I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Shelf „___B_^KS 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Essays and Postscripts 

ON 



ELOCUTION, 



ALEXANDER MELVILLE BELL, 



» PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH and DICTIONARY OF SOUNDS ; 
" PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION ; " 
"VISIBLE SPEECH AND UNIVERSAL ALPHABETICS; " 
"SOUNDS AND THEIR RELATIONS;" ' 
"LINE WRITING," 
n^l &c, &c, &c. 



BY 



AUTHOR OF 



NEW YORK : 
48 UNIVERSITY PLACE, 

EDGAR S. WERNER, 
1886. 




Copyright 1886, 

BY 

MELVILLE BELL- 



PREFACE. 



The author's systematic treatises and text-books on Elo- 
cution, Alphabetics, Defects of Speech, etc., have long 
been honoured with a wide circle of students. To these 
Works the reader must be referred for a complete develop- 
ment of the subjects discursively treated in the " Essays 
and Postscripts " which compose this volume. Of the 
latter, the author can only hope that they may, at least, 
prove incentives to further study on the part of interested 
readers. 

Washington, D. C, 1525, 35th street. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

I. The Science of Elocution i 

II. Faults in Reading and Speaking 7 

III. English Pronunciation 9 

IV. English Phonetic Elements 29 

V. Alphabetics 33 

VI. The Function of the Pharynx in Articulation, 37 

VII. The Relation of Tones to Language 41 

VIII. The Tones of Speech 53 

IX. The Instrument of Speech 57 

X. Respiration in Speech 63 

XL Phonetic Syllabication 65 

XII. Accent . . .*. 69 

XIII. Emphasis 73 

XIV. Rhythm as Affecting Reading 77 

XV. Rhyme as Affecting Pronunciation 83 

XVI. Expressive Speech 87 

XVII. Action 93 

XVIII. Class Characteristics of Delivery 97 

XIX. Defects and Impediments of Speech 103 

XX. Orthography 113 

XXL Visibility of Speech 119 

XXII. Imitation 123 

XXIII. Reading and Readers 135 

XXIV. Oratory and Orators 149 

XXV. An Alphabet of Orators 157 

XXVI. A Shadow-Class of Students 173 



ESSAYS AND POSTSCRIPTS 



ON ELOCUTION. 



I. THE SCIENCE OF ELOCUTION. 

To what extent is there a Science of Elocution ? Fifty 
persons may deliver the same language in fifty different 
ways, and all may be equally effective. Can there, then, 
be a Science of Delivery ? The answer is, that there can 
be, and that there is, in so far as there are points of agree- 
ment between the supposed fifty, or between all speakers. 
Principles may be acknowledged as universally true, and 
yet they may admit of different applications in given cir- 
cumstances. Every thought is many sided, and it may 
present one or another of its facets to the observer, accord- 
ingly as it is viewed from different standpoints. All 
students of the subject may agree that a certain quality of 
utterance is indicative of a certain sentiment; but the 
presence of the sentiment and the applicability of the 
quality in any given case may, nevertheless, be a subject 
for diversity of opinion. There are, undoubtedly, Prin- 
ciples of Delivery, which must be admitted to be scientific, 
because their uniform working may be traced from speaker 
to speaker, and from nation to nation. 

The first of these Principles is, that the Tones of the 
voice in speech are all more or less inflected — from grave 
to acute, or from acute to grave — and that each vocal 
flexion conveys with it a meaning, or one of a series of 



2 



The Science of Elocution. 



meanings, instinctively associated with it by all persons. 
Thus the inflexion from grave to acute (') expresses incom- 
pleteness, anticipation, interrogation, dubiety, entreaty, 
deference, modesty, desire, and all attractive sentiments; 
and the inflexion from acute to grave (') expresses pre- 
cisely opposite meanings, namely : completeness, satisfac- 
tion, assertion, confidence, imperativeness, disregard, 
haughtiness, hatred, and all repellent sentiments. The 
two vocal movements are thus the negative and positive 
poles of logical and sentimental expressiveness. [See 
" Tones of Speech."] 

The Key, or pitch, of the voice ; and also the Rate, or 
time ; and the Force of utterance, accord with the import 
of the language, and the speaker's expressive intention. 
A high key may be combined with gentle force, a low key 
with energy, and a quick or a slow rate with any degree of 
force, or with any key. Each of these qualities has its 
own inherent kind of expressiveness, and thus the modula- 
tive key, the rate, and the force of utterance must be con- 
ceded to be scientific elements in Elocution. 

The Clausular division of sentences is a very important 
part of good delivery, and, as this is governed by definite 
rule, it also is entitled to be considered a Scientific element 
in Elocution. The divisions indicated by marks of punc- 
tuation merely guide the eye to follow the structure of a 
sentence. A reader who should make his oral divisions 
correspond to those marked off by commas, etc., would be 
a very bad reader. In intellectual reading, every portion 
of a sentence expressive of a separate fact or circumstance, 
is given by itself. The grammatical subject, and its 
adjuncts; the predicate, and its adjuncts; the relative 
clause, and every clause expressive of a /107a, when, where, 
why, etc., are made to stand out distinctly from each other, 



The Science of Elocution. 



3 



yet with such modulative alliances, as clearly denote and 
maintain their mutual relations. The cultivated reader has 
other means besides that of pausing for the manifestation 
of the logical divisions of his sentences. He will use the 
refined appliances of a shift of key, or of pitch, or a turn 
of inflexion, rather than resort to the rude stopping-brake 
under all circumstances. But, whatever his method, he 
will be governed by the principle of uniting no two words 
between which there is not a mutual relation in sense. 
The graduation of pauses, in accordance with a supposed 
time value of the different marks of punctuation, is erro- 
neous and fanciful. 

The laws of Emphasis demand recognition as chief 
elements in the Science of Elocution. There are three 
sources of emphasis : (I) novelty of thought in the con- 
text ; (II) contrast to a preceding contextual thought ; and 
(III) suggestion of unexpressed contrast. The first is the 
weakest, the last the strongest kind of emphasis. But 
novelty of thought is the most important emphatic prin- 
ciple, because it involves the corollary, that any thought 
which has been previously expressed or implied in the con- 
text is, in virtue of want of novelty, unemphatic. 

No subject furnishes a higher intellectual exercise than 
the application of these laws of emphasis to the various 
kinds of composition, in prose, poetry, and the drama. 
Elocution has been degraded by nothing more than by the 
whimsical and false views which have been entertained in 
reference to emphasis. Important grammatical words, to 
the exclusion of words belonging to the subordinate classes 
— adjectives in preference to nouns; adverbs to verbs; 
contrasted words without reference to their novelty ; and 
often merely sonorous words — have been selected for the 
declaimer's rant and mouthing. In the guiding principles 



4 



The Science of Elocution. 



above presented, a true scientific basis is established for this 
grand department of elocution. 

Gesture, like emphasis, has been most misapprehend- 
ingly applied and taught ; but here, also, principles can be 
adduced to justify the addition of oratorical action to the 
scientific departments of elocution. Gesture — including 
attitude and motion — is, properly, merely an accompani- 
ment and enforcement of language ; not a pictorial transla- 
tion of words, but an embodiment of the spirit of utterance 
by suggestion of unexpressed particulars, and, chiefly, by 
showing the effect upon the speaker himself of the thoughts 
and sentiments involved. When action takes the place of 
language, it is pantomime ; and when pantomime takes the 
place of oratorical action, the result is tautology ; for 
nothing needs be, or should be, expressed by gesture which 
is fully conveyed in words. Imitative action is only ap- 
propriate when the object is to ridicule or to excite to 
merriment. 

The mechanical part of gesture ought to be mastered by 
every speaker, so that he may be enabled always to move 
with grace, or stand still with ease. But he should also 
know when, as well as how, to move, and, chiefly, when 
to stand still. 

An idea has been worked out with much detail for the 
government of gesture by physiological — and often fanci- 
ful — principles, assigning certain physical regions to certain 
classes of sentiments, etc.; but, while perhaps applicable 
enough in pantomime, such principles would be out of place 
in oratorical action. The sculptor or the painter might 
avail himself of them for his dumb exhibitions ; but the 
speaker is not dumb, and gesture must, in his case, be sub- 
ordinate to language. 

Inflexion, Pitch, Time, Force, Clausing, Emphasis and 



The Science of Elocution. 



5 



Action all having been shown to be under the government 
of Principles, to which appeal can be made for the regula- 
tion of elocutionary effects, enough has been said to 
prove that, although the Art of Delivery has been too gen- 
erally treated as if it had no scientific basis, such a founda- 
tion really exists. Something, no doubt, remains to be 
done for complete formulation, but the Science of Elocu- 
tion is certainly in its main particulars already developed.* 



* For full practical details of the subjects referred to in this Article, 
see the Author's " Principles of Elocution " (Fourth Edition). 



Faults in Reading and Speaking. 7 



II. FAULTS IN READING AND SPEAKING. 

Few persons read naturally; that is, with such tones, 
pauses, accents, etc., as would be given by the same per- 
sons in conversational speech. The general tendency is 
towards monotony. The level uniformity with which words 
are ranged before the eye on the printed page, seems to in- 
fluence the voice to a corresponding sameness of pitch. The 
inflexions tend to a continuative rise, in accordance with 
the feeling that each clause is only part of a visible sentence, 
and each sentence only part of a visible paragraph. A 
good reader will pronounce clauses and sentences as if each 
of them stood alone. The influence of preceding thoughts 
will be manifest in his delivery ; but subsequent sentences 
will be ignored as completely as though he did not see them, 
and had no knowledge of their purport. Thought by 
thought is the principle of reading, as it is necessarily of 
speaking. 

Good reading requires a steady eye, to prevent confusion 
of line with line. A wandering eye is a common cause of 
blundering. A reader with this habit might cure himself 
by using a mask over the page, exposing, through a slit, 
only one line at a time. Indeed, all reading would be 
improved in natural expression by the imaginary employ- 
ment of such a covering over all but the clause in process 
of being read. 

The mode of utterance which is generally used in con- 
versational speech is quite unfitted for public address. Few 
persons are aware of this fact, or of their own condition in 
this respect, until they attempt to speak before a large 
audience. The habitual elision of vowels and the running 
together of words, which are not intolerable only because 
not altogether unintelligible in ordinary conversation, can- 



8 Faults in Reading and Speaking. 

not be understood from the platform. The speaker seems 
to masticate or swallow his words, instead of forming them 
for the benefit of the listeners. The throat-sounds, which 
are of secondary importance in conversation where even 
a whisper may suffice for communication, are the most im- 
portant elements in public speaking. 

In private speech, the syllables of words are not indi- 
vidually presented to the ear, but a conglomerate of sounds 
intended to mean a series of words is delivered with a single 
impulse of voice. An example — noted from the utterance 
of a fairly good speaker — may be quoted as an illustration. 
What was intended, was "Shall I give you some more?" 
What was heard (and understood) was : " Shligvusmore ? " 

In public speaking, every syllable must have its own vocal 
sound, and the rate of utterance should be more deliberate 
than in conversation ; while the voice should be resonant 
and sustained, in proportion to the distance over which the 
auditors are distributed. 

Public speaking is analogous to scene-painting. The 
effects have to be projected to a distance, and they must be 
made correspondingly strong to be properly apprehended 
by the mass of hearers. The style of utterance adapted 
to be distinctly heard over a large area would be disa- 
greeably intense to a single listener, just as a picture to be 
viewed from a distance, looks coarse and patchy to a near 
inspector. But the faint outlines and delicate shadings of 
a gallery-picture would be thrown away, because invisible, 
on a theatrical curtain ; and the soft effects of conver- 
sational speech are equally lost and unappreciated, because 
inaudible, on the platform. 



English Pronunciation. 



9 



III. ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. 
One of the results of the inadequate alphabet by which 
the English language is written is that the pronunciation 
of a word cannot be gathered from the spelling, but that 
a special directory is needed in the form of a " Pronounc- 
ing Dictionary." The fact is very remarkable in connec- 
tion with an alphabetically written language ; for the mere 
analysis of a word into its letters ought to be the same as 
the analysis of the sound of the word into its phonetic ele- 
ments. The very purpose of alphabetic writing is defeated 
when this result is not obtained. Verbal combinations of 
letters form pictures to the accustomed eye, and we learn 
to recognise them from habit, and smaller groups of letters 
have varying sounds in different words without much per- 
plexing us 7 because each word has its own pictorial aspect ; 
but when we meet with a familiar group of letters in an 
unfamiliar word, we do not know which one ol the many 
sounds of the group is the one intended to be used. We 
become accustomed to common words and are not liable 
to mistakes in pronouncing them; but the commonest 
words present a perpetual puzzle to foreigners. A native 
speaker will read without confusion that " the bishop had 
met with a mishap but a stranger to the language might 
justifiably pronounce the sentence : " the bish-op had met 
with a mish-ap," or, " the bis-hop had met with a mis-hap." 
We discriminate the three sounds of ng in the sentence 
" the singer lingers in danger ; " but a foreigner might very 
naturally read the letters with a uniform sound, as "the 
sing-er ling-ers in dang-er;" or, " the sing-(g)er ling (g)ers 
in dang-(g)er;" or, " the sin-jer lin-jers in dan-jer;" or he 
might show his accomplishment by imitating our intermix- 
ture of the different sounds and say : " the sin-jer ling-ers 
in dang-(g)er." 



io English Pronunciation. 

We use one letter for the two sounds in candle and cellar; 
one letter for the three sounds in game, gem and giraffe; 
and one combination of letters for the three sounds in 
character, chari?i and chaise ; but a child might pardonably 
read of " a candle in a kellar," instead of a cellar ; or of " a 
kild being taken for a karming drive in a kaise," instead of 
a child taken for a charming drive in a chaise. Our sounds 
are continually playing hide and seek with the letters ; we 
find them nowhere (now here), and when we look 
again they are nowhere (nowhere). 

These illustrations show something of the source of the 
difficulty attending the regulation of the pronunciation of 
English. The reader will notice that English pronuncia- 
tion and the pronunciation of English are two different 
things. English pronunciation refers to characteristics 
peculiar to Anglican speakers ; the pronunciation of Eng- 
lish refers to the phonetic characteristics of the language 
wherever spoken. 

Speech is made up of phrases, phrases of words, words 
of syllables, and syllables of elementary sounds, or of let- 
ters, according as our analysis is phonetic or orthographic. 
In correcting any faults, or acquiring any excellences, the 
shortest way is to begin with ultimate elements. On the 
principle of the old economical maxim : " Take care of 
the pence and the pounds will look after themselves," if 
we are careful to make our elementary sounds of standard 
quality, our syllables, words and phrases will need little 
special attention. Unfortunately, this is a point respecting 
which few of our pronouncing dictionaries offer any guid- 
ance. For example, the sounds of the vowels are called 
long, short, broad, close, obtuse, obscure, etc. ; but if a reader 
wishes to know the characteristic quality of any given 
vowel he is simply referred to a key-word. Thus "long a" 



English Pronunciation. 



j i 



he finds, is heard in the word "fat e." But what is the 
sound heard in the word "fate?" This is what he wants 
to know, and what the dictionary does not tell him. Even 
the classifications " long," " short," " obscure," etc., are 
founded on letters and not on sounds. Thus in Worces- 
ter's Dictionary each letter has its special symbol for 
" obscure," but the reader has no means of knowing 
which, if any, of all the obscure sounds are the same in 
quality, or what is the precise quality of any one of them. 
The key-words for " obscure u" for example, are sulphur, 
famous, and deputy ; but the u in deputy has nothing in 
common with the u in famous, unless, indeed, we can con- 
ceive the pronunciation dep-uty to be intended. This 
cannot be ; yet this is what the notation teaches. Sounds, 
of course, can only be perfectly represented by special 
phonetic symbols ; but the characteristics of a sound can 
be described, and they can even be denoted to the eye 
with approximate accuracy by diacritic signs attached to 
common letters. The student of pronunciation wants to 
be informed in some way of the standard quality of every 
" long," " short," " obscure " or other sound of every letter. 

The only English dictionary which has hitherto fur- 
nished this information with approximate accuracy in its 
" Scheme of Sounds " is that of Smart, in his " Walker Re- 
modelled ; " but the great dictionary now being published 
by the Philological Society of London enters fully into this 
important department of orthoepy. Is the sound of " long 
a" an ultimate phonetic element, or can it be resolved 
into component elements ? Undoubtedly in English usage 
long a (as in fate) is a compound sound, commencing with 
the sound of French e and terminating with an approxi 
mation to the sound of English e. Let this be understood 
in connection with the key-word and a standard is supplied 



English Pronunciation. 



for the pronunciation of all words containing " long a" 
The sound of "long <?" is also, in English usage, a com- 
pound of two phonetic elements, the second being an ap- 
proximation to the sound of oo. Let this be stated in 
connection with a key-word such as " note," and a stand- 
ard is supplied for the pronunciation of all words contain- 
ing " long o" 

A-ee and o-oo are the standard English sounds of the first 
and fourth of our vowel letters ; but a different standard 
might of course be adopted elsewhere. For exampie, in 
Scotland, long a and long o are pronounced without the 
tapering termination ; and, in America, also the closing 
glide is very generally omitted, perhaps because the dic- 
tionaries do not mark it. But although American ortho- 
epists might adopt the monophthongal instead of the 
diphthongal sounds of a and o as their standard national 
varieties, the same key-words might still be used in Amer- 
ican and English pronouncing dictionaries, yet without 
conveying a hint of the dialectic differences. Key-words 
must themselves be phonetically interpreted, before they 
can be used as guides to the sounds of other words. 

Pronouncing dictionaries generally, including those of 
Worcester and Webster, refer the sound of a in care, air, 
etc., to the key-word "fate," and the sound of o in ore, 
four, etc., to the key-word " note," giving no indication of 
the effect of the sound of r\\\ modifying a preceding vowel. 
In this the orthoepists have simply followed their predeces- 
sor Walker ; but they have at the same time shut their ears 
to some of the most patent varieties of English sounds. 

The so-called " long a " and " long o" have entirely dif- 
ferent qualities before r, from the ordinary sounds of a and 
o. The letter r, besides, has a sound of its own, of which 
no notice is taken. In such words as vary, glory, various, 



English Pronunciation. 



l 3 



glorious ; etc., the pronunciation indicated by these eminent 
lexicographical authorities, whatever it is intended to be, is 
certainly not English. 

The terms "long" and "short" have, in general, no 
other effect than to distinguish different sounds of the same 
letters. This is a totally distinct thing from quantitative 
difference, which can have reference only to relative dura- 
tions of the very same sound. By " long a " is meant the 
sound of a in fate, and by " short a " the sound of a in 
fat. The true short sound of our " long a " is not heard in 
English. It is the sound of et in French. The use of the 
terms "long" and " short" in reference to unlike qualities 
of sound ought to be discontinued and deprecated, because 
it prevents the appropriate designation of allied sounds in 
other languages. 

Our vowel letters have first their " name " sounds a, e, i, 
o, u. The precise quality of each of these must be settled 
before they can be used in key-words to teach either 
English pronunciation or the pronunciation of English. 
The vowel letters have also regular " second " sounds, as 
in (g)nat, net, (k)nil, not, nut* These should be called 
" second " instead of " short " sounds. In English pro- 
nunciation, the "second" sounds are really short in quan- 
tity, but then the sound in fat is not the short of a in fate, 
the sound in met is not the short of e in meet, etc. In the 
usual pronunciation of English in America these so-called 
short vowels are made long, and they are also compound 
in quality. The English " second " sounds are monoph- 
thongs; the American, although theoretically the same, 
are practically diphthongs. The two dialects are diverging 
in many points for want of a standard for the pronuncia- 
tion of the ultimate elements of the language. The defi- 
niteness which pronunciation acquires from a distinct per- 



14 



English Pronunciation. 



ception of the separate elementary sounds will well repay 
the little trouble of individually revising the phonetics of 
our a, b, c. 

The divergency of American and English phonetic prac- 
tice seems to be less a modern departure on this side of 
the Atlantic, than a survival of early English characteris- 
tics ; just as many words which have been classed as Amer- 
icanisms, are, in reality, old English terms which had 
dropped out of use in their native land. The compound 
quality of vowel sounds appears to have been a very gen- 
eral characteristic of our language in its early stages, if we 
may judge by the marked prevalence of diphthongal vow- 
els in existing provincial dialects. The use of pure mon- 
ophthongs for the second sounds of the vowel letters, as 
now heard in England, 1 should perhaps, therefore, be con- 
sidered as a modern refinement. An example, in a few 
lines of Tennyson's " Northern Farmer," illustrates the 
diphthongal character of many of the dialectic vowels. 

" Wheer asta bean saw long and mea liggin' 'ere aloan ? 

Noorse ? thoort nowt o' a noorse : whoy, doctor's abean an' agoan : 
Says that I moant 'a naw moore yaale : but I beant a fool : 
Git ma my yaale, for I beant a-gooin' to break my rule. 

" Doctors, they knaws nowt, for a says what's nawways true: 
Now soort o' koind o' use to saay the things that a do. 
I've 'ed my point o' yaale ivry noight sin' I bean 'ere, 
An' I've 'ed my quart ivry market-noight for foorty year. 

" What attastannin theer for, an' doesn bring me the yaale? 
Doctor's a tottler, lass, an a's hallus i' the owd taale : 
I weant break rules for doctor, a knaws naw moor nor a floy : 
Git ma my yaale, I tell tha, an' gin I mun doy I mun doy." 

Excellence of pronunciation depends primarily on a 
clear syllabication of words. An uneducated speaker 
knows words and phrases in the aggregate only, and de- 



English Pronunciation. 



livers them as wholes ; for were he to attempt syllabic pre- 
cision, he would make the most ridiculous blunders, and 
perhaps would not accomplish the pronunciation of the 
same word twice in exactly the same manner. An educated 
speaker should spell his words to the ear as accurately as 
he spells them on paper. The indefiniteness of letters is 
the great impediment ; and sounds must obtain an inde- 
pendent existence in the mind in order that this difficulty 
may be overcome. Every syllable should be a stroke of 
the voice, as definite as the stroke of a piston. Those who 
aim at being really good speakers will, therefore, be careful 
to cultivate a habit of syllabic articulation; and, in the de- 
livery of words, as in the writing of them, to show a 
perfect knowledge of their component elements. 

But what is a syllable ? This, from the variety of defini- 
tions given, has not been found an easy question to answer. 
A syllable is a single impulse of voice through a fixed (as 
distinguished from a transitional) oral configuration. All 
vowels make syllables, because all vowels have fixed con- 
figurations ; and the vowel may be preceded or followed by 
a glide, a consonant, or a combination of consonants with- 
out affecting the unity of the syllabic impulse. Thus, ah, 
owe, fear, flowed, fourths, friends, are all monosyllables. 
But, according to this definition, a consonant might make a 
syllable if its configuration were momentarily " held " or 
fixed. And this is true. In English utterance, some con- 
sonants are often syllabically pronounced ; thus, / and n in 
apple, table, 'needle, given, risen, eaten, even, and a host of 
other words. Compare the two pronunciations of " even- 
ing," and you have at once the test and the proof of the 
accuracy of the above definition of a syllable. The word 
" eve-ning " (the fall of day) is a dissyllable, the medial 
n being merely transitional; but the word " e-ven-ing " 



i6 



English Pronunciation. 



(participle of the verb to even) is a trisyllable, because the 
n has a momentarily fixed configuration. 

The division of words into syllables to the eye does not 
always correspond with their division in pronunciation.* 
The former has reference to etymology and to letters ; 
the latter is governed solely by utterance. In the words 
dabble and table, for instance, we have two consonants in 
the one case, and only one in the other, ^fter the syllabic 
vowel; but the consonant sound is equally single in both 
words. The doubling of the consonant in dabble is merely 
an orthographic expedient to show that the a has its 
"second" sound, and not its "name" sound. If the dif- 
ferent vowels had distinctive symbols, no person would 
dream of dividing such words on different principles, as 
we have all been taught to do, but the division would be 
la, la; d a, da. The syllabic association of consonants, 
with vowels, as in d a b,dab, is the result only of our im- 
perfect alphabet; yet it has led orthoepists to distinguish 
what they call "stopped" or "shut" vowels as a separate 
class. There is no physiological ground for the distinc- 
tion. Voice, the material of vowels, is formed in the 
throat; consonants are formed in the mouth ; and " stop- 
ped " or " shut " sounds are stopped where their sound is 
produced; that is, for vowels, in the throat, and in the 
throat only. All vowels are more or less affected in their 
termination by the consonant or other element that follows 
them ; but " stopped " vowels are not more, or otherwise, 
affected from this source than vowels of other classes. 

The mouth has other functions to perform besides those 
of articulation ; for it is also the organ of mastication. The 
action of the mouth in mastication is always from open to 
close, as it rolls, and grinds, and pushes back the morsels of 



*See "Phonetic Syllabication. ' : 



English Pronunciation. 17 

food. In articulation the mouth moves to mould and give 
egress to the breath or voice emitted from the throat ; and 
the action is, therefore, the reverse of that in mastication, 
or always from close to open — that is, from consonants to 
vowels. Any consonant between two vowels, therefore, 
belongs in utterance to the following, and not to the pre- 
ceding vowel ; and a group of medial consonants will only 
be divided when they cannot all be pronounced monosyl- 
labically ; or when they belong to different parts of com- 
pound words ; as in con-junc-ture, u-ni-ver-sal, in-ter-view, 
etc. On this principle, such a word as critical is not 
divided phonetically into crit-ic-al, but into cri-ti-cal. The 
" stopped " vowel theory is further disproved by singing ; 
for a singer has no more difficulty in prolonging the nomi- 
nally " shut " vowel in that than the open vowel in they. 
Speakers, too, must sometimes prolong and swell their 
sounds, to render words expressive; and all vowels in 
effective delivery require a fulness of utterance beyond 
that which, according to the theory of " shut " vowels, 
could be given to these elements. 

One of the principal characteristics of English pronun- 
ciation is the accent, or stress, by which some one syllable 
is rendered prominent in every verbal combination.* 
Equality in the force of syllables is peculiarly un-English. 
Frenchmen, and many other foreigners, the Welsh, and 
the Highlanders of Scotland, find a difficulty in giving the 
requisite subordination to unaccented syllables, and their 
pronunciation is monosyllabic, or staccato. The subordi- 
nation of the less important syllables, in English usage, 
enlivens the national utterance, and gives expressiveness to 
words, and variety to the rhythmus of sentences. But it has 
an unfavourable effect on the clearness of syllabic sounds. 
* See " Accent." 



i8 



English Pronunciation. 



Accentual prominence is too often gained only at the ex- 
pense of the unaccented syllables, the vowels in which are 
obscured, or often altogether elided. Thus we hear of the 
" Pres'd'nt'n's Cab'n't," for the President a?id his Cabbiet; 
"the 'xec'tive mansh'n," for the executive mansion; 
"hered'tr'y house 'f parrm'nt," for hereditary house of 
parliament; " spesh'l pr'rog'tive," for special prerogative; 
" gov'm'nt," for governnient, etc. The definite distinctive- 
ness of vowels in unaccented syllables may be taken as the 
criterion of a good pronunciation. A slight difference in 
quality between accented and unaccented sounds is almost 
unavoidable ; but the limit of legitimate change is a narrow 
one, and he will undoubtedly be the best speaker whose 
unaccented vowels approximate most nearly to the variety 
and precision of his accentual sounds. 

An American peculiarity of accentuation, which is very 
prevalent, although not taught by native orthoepists, con- 
sists in giving primary force to the terminations ary. ory, 
ony, etc., as in necessary, extraordinary, literary, oratory, ter- 
ritory, matri?nony, testimony, etc. This is no doubt an easier 
pronunciation than the nervous English one, " arbitrary, 
nec'essary, or'atory, territory, testimony," etc, but drawl- 
ing ease is not a recommendation, and until the change is 
sanctioned by educated authority, it should receive no tol- 
erance from the schoolmaster, but be checked by precept 
and example. 

The English language is characterised by its clusters of 
consonants, as in etched, changed, fifths, sixths ; and, often 
as these occur in our orthography, consonant clusters are 
even more common in our utterance. Thus all our regular 
verbs ending in k in the infinitive add the letters ed in their 
preterites ; but the sound added is simply that of /, so that 
such words terminate in kt to the ear. Rather, they should 



English Pronunciation. 



1 9 



terminate in the sound of kl, for there is a little difficulty 
in making one shut consonant audible before another, and 
few speakers accomplish the distinction clearly between 
such words as mast and masked, mart and marked, taught and 
talked. The sound of kt occurs also under the orthography 
ct, as in act, strict, sect, etc. The plural of the last word 
— sects — few persons distinguish, phonetically, from the 
word sex, and awkward ambiguities sometimes arise in con- 
sequence ; as in an instance where the prayer was literally 
offered up that " all difference of sex " might come to an 
end. But this is not worse than what may be heard any 
Sunday from a large percentage of the public readers of 
the English liturgy in delivering the words " O Lord make 
clean our hearts," which by careless articulation is perverted 
into " make lean our hearts." Of course, the spirit of the 
prayer is not affected, but all who have a due regard for the 
proprieties of worship will avoid such discrepancies between 
the letter and the spirit. How often, too, have we heard 
the question uttered : " Can the Ethiopian change his kin, 
or the leopard his pots ? " when the words intended were 
" skin " and " spots." Such instances show the necessity 
for care on the part of public speakers in delivering clusters 
of consonants. In reference to the termination ed it should 
be noted that these letters are occasionally pronounced as 
a syllable, in order to distinguish adjectives from verbs of the 
same orthography, as blessed (adjective) from bless{e)d 
(verb), learned (adjective) from leam(e)d (verb). 

A common clerical affectation, in always pronouncing 
ed as a syllable, professionally, is not to be commended ; 
unless the principle be adopted, which would justify the 
" twang heard in conventicle," that sacred subjects should 
have a tone and manner of their own, and so be removed 
from the sphere of the natural, not into the supernatural 



20 



English Pronunciation. 



but into the ^natural. Surely, the best usage of the 
language should be reflected equally from stage and pulpit. 

Dialectic habits are curiously persistent on the tongue. 
The speech of an old lady in London, who had lived for 
fifty years in the British metropolis, continued as markedly 
northern as if she had but yesterday left the banks of the 
Forth. On a visitor's remarking, in reference to her pres- 
ervation of her mother-tongue, she said : " Ay, sir, and 
what for no ? I'm no ane o' them that's ashamed o' my ain 
country." This good old patriot had purposely resisted 
all the influences around her, in order to preserve in its 
purity the Doric speech of her beloved Caledonia. Cases 
are, perhaps, more common where persons endeavour to 
rid themselves of early characteristics. But they seldom 
entirely succeed. However much the peculiarities may be 
toned down through foreign intercourse, the original qual- 
ity is generally recognisable in some minute particular. 
Of course, instruction directed to the proper points would 
be effectual, but this presupposes an analysis and a minute- 
ness of observation which the subject has but rarely 
received. 

While the author was resident in Edinburgh, a stranger 
called one day to make some inquiries in regard to profes- 
sional matters. He said: " I have called on you, sir, for 
the purpose of," etc. After the visitor was seated, he was 
asked : " When did you cross the Atlantic ? " He stared : 
" How do you know that I have crossed the Atlantic ? " 
The explanation was given that the little word " sir," in 
his first sentence, had revealed the fact. This gentleman 
was one of the most' eminent teachers of elocution in 
America, and his speech was perfectly free from ordinary 
local colouring, in all but the one little element which had 
escaped observation. Reference has already been made 



English Pronunciation. 



21 



to the need of a much more exact analysis of elementary- 
sounds and key-words than has been generally undertaken 
in connection with the teaching of pronunciation. There 
could not be a stronger case in proof of such necessity 
than that of the teacher above referred to. 

The name-sound of the letter u as pronounced in England, 
is a compound of the consonant y and the vowel oo (=yoo). 
Any word beginning with this sound, therefore, commences 
with a consonant, and not with a vowel. Consequently, 
the use of the article " an " before u is an error. We 
might as well speak of an youth or an year, as of an union 
or an universe. The grammatical rule which prescribes an 
before a vowel is a phonetic one, and can only refer to a 
phonetic vowel. 

The consonant y, being formed by the middle of the 
tongue, does not easily combine with any consonant 
formed by the point of the tongue. On this account the 
sound of u is never heard after r in English ; but r, u, 1, e, 
is pronounced rool ; r, u, d, e, rood ; b, r, u, t, e, broot ; 
f, r, u, i, t, froot, etc. The same difficulty is felt, in a less 
degree, in combining / with u, as in lute, flute, lure, etc. 
In such cases either the sound of u is changed to oo or the 
formation of the / is modified so as to assimilate it to the 
sound of y. In words of common occurrence the vowel 
is changed, as in flute, fluid, plural, ludicrous ; etc., and in 
less familiar words, the consonant is modified, as in lute, 
lure, lurid, lucid, etc. When, however, the / and the u are 
in different syllables, the full name-sound of the vowel 
is heard ; as in all-ude, ill-usion, prel-ude (noun), vol-ume, 
sal-ute / etc. 

The difficulty of combining y with the point consonants 
/, d, n, manifests itself in the vulgar pronunciation of 
"toon" for tune, "dook" for duke, "noo " for new, etc. 



22 



English Pronunciation. 



Orthoepic authorities give no sanction to these changes, 
consequently the full sound of u should be preserved, as 
in Tuesday, tutor, stupid, durable, duplicity, neuter, news- 
paper, etc. 

The sound of s before y is, on the same principle, a diffi- 
cult combination. Words and syllables in common use 
have given up all attempts to preserve the purity of the 
alien elements, and allowed a phonetic compromise to be 
made by the substitution of the intermediate sound of sh 
for the sound of sy. Thus in the terminations cial, tial, 
sion, lion, tious, etc., the single sound of sh has taken the 
place of the two elements which were originally pronounced 
in these syllables. So, also, in the commonword ^r«?,and 
its compounds assure, insure, etc.; and in the termination 
of the same orthography, in fissure, tonsure, pleasure, leisure, 
etc.; as well as in issue, tissue, etc., the u has lost all trace 
of an initial y. To this category is to be added the word 
sugar. But less familiar words retain the respective sounds 
of s andy, notwithstanding their want of fluency, as in sue, 
pursue, suit, suitable, super, superior, sudatory, assume, re- 
sume, etc. The tendency, however, to avoid the tongue- 
twisting combination is manifested in the vulgar pronuncia- 
tion of "soo" for sue; u soot " or "shoot" for suit \ 
" sooperior" or " shooperior" for superior, etc. 

An American peculiarity in pronouncing u makes the 
first element the vowel e, instead of the consonantly so 
that the sound is a true diphthong — wol yoo, with accent on 
the last element, but eeoo, with accent on the first element ; 
as in few, view, new, etc., pronounced feeoo, veeoo, neeoo, etc. 

In a few words where the sound of sh has taken the place 
of s before y, the y is not quite lost sight of, but lingers in 
the form of the y- glide, as in specie, species (not in specious), 
tertian, Asia, Persia, etc. 



English Pronunciation. 



23 



The sounds of s and sh come, in some words, rather too 
close together for euphony, and speakers are often per- 
plexed as to which of the sounds to use. Thus, in pro- 
nunciation, association, denunciation, negotiation, etc. In such 
cases, the sound heard in radical words is retained in their 
derivatives. Thus, pronounce and denounce having the sound 

s s 

of s, we say pronwiciation and denimciaiion ; but the words 
propitiate, negotiate and associate having the sound of sh, we 

sh sh sh 

say propitiation, negotiation and association. In the last word 
the repetition of one of the hissing sounds, s or sh, cannot 
be avoided ; and, wherever we can, we should follow 
where a principle leads. Principle dictates the sound 

sh s 

association, and not association. 

The English language has been supposed to make 
use of a greater than the average proportion of hissing 
sounds. S is our inflectional letter both for the plural of 
nouns and the third person singular of verbs ; but the sound 
of s is, in a large proportion of cases, vocalised into z or zh. 
A phonetic comparison of English, French, Italian and 
Spanish gives this result : The sibilants actually sounded 
occur in these languages in the ratios of 60 in French, to 
65 in English, 70 in Italian, and no in Spanish. Our 
decried English is thus proved to be more hissed at than 
hissing. 

The consonants w before 00, and y before ee, are some- 
what difficult of utterance; so that many speakers pro- 
nounce "ooman" for woman and "ear" for year. W and 
y, like all other consonants, can be formed without voice. 
The non-vocal w is of common occurrence, as in why, 
what, when, which, whether, etc. Some orthoepists con- 
sider the sound of wh to be equivalent to hoo ; but this 
is an error ; otherwise, the statement " I saw the man whet 



2 4 



English Pronunciation. 



the knife " would be the same phonetically as " I saw the 
man who ate the knife " — a very different fact. Londoners 
confound wh with w and say " witch " for which ; " wile " 
for while ; and " weather " for whether. 

The non-vocal y occurs only before the name-sound of 
u; as in hue, huge, human. Sometimes, however, this 
sound is used unintentionally in other positions than be- 
fore u, as in the sentence " He that hath ears to hear, let 
him hear," which is to be heard any day from London 
curates as " Ee that 'ath yahs to yhah, let 'im yhah." 

Perhaps the most singular of all dialectic peculiarities is 
the English perversity in reference to the aspirate h, which 
is as carefully inserted where it should not be heard as 
omitted where it is required. The inhabitants of Shrews- 
bury are said to have the unenviable supremacy in this 
characteristic, although it is hard to conceive how they 
could surpass the native Londoners. 

The letter h is correctly silent in the following five words, 
and their derivatives : heir, honest, honour, hour, humour (the 
last word in its ordinary sense, the h being pronounced in 
the medical term " humor "). The word humble is, also, in 
many of our dictionaries, marked with silent h ; but cus- 
tom wavers, and will probably establish the more regular, 
and everyway the preferable pronunciation, humble. In 
every other English word with initial h, such as herb, herit- 
age, homage, hospital, hospitable, etc., the aspirate should be 
heard. 

The sound of er, ir, yr, as in her, sir, myrrh, is a char- 
acteristically Anglican one, closely resembling, but not the 
same as, the sound of nr. In Scotland, in Ireland, and in 
America, three different pronunciations of er are heard. 
The r in the English and American syllables is a glide ; and 
in the Scotch and Irish syllables it is a consonant. In such 



English Pronunciation. 



25 



words as cherish, merit, very, merry, etc., and lyric, spirit, 
virulent, mirror, etc., the vowels have their regular "second" 
sounds, and the r is a consonant. Established custom is, 
unfortunately, inconsistent in reference to words contain- 
ing er and ir. Thus the sound in the radical word is re- 
tained in the derivatives, in stir, stirring ; prefer, preferring ; 
but not in err, erring, error, errcuit, etc. No wonder, 
therefore, that speakers are often perplexed as to the pro- 
nunciation of such words as sirrah, stirrup and sirup ; some 
giving the u second " sound of z, and others the sound of ir. 

Another class of words, respecting which principle and 
practice are considerably at variance, consists of adopted 
foreign words. These, when first introduced into our 
language, naturally come in the phonetic dress of their 
native tongue ; but when the words have become naturalised 
by use, their foreign garments are laid aside, and replaced 
by the ordinary attire of English sounds. The change is 
merely a question of time. To an English complexion all 
such words must come at last. Whether, therefore, we say 
lomaf h Jto or tomato, bana( h )na or banana, promena( h )de or 
promenade, chara( h )de or charade, depends on whether we 
consider the words as foreigners, or as naturalised citizens. 
Fashion and affectation preserve the foreign sounds of 
words long after the terms have been incorporated in our 
familiar vocabularies. It seems to be thought more 
scholarly to speak of a " va(h)se " or " va(w)se," than a 
vase; and of an "envelope" (French) than of an envelope; 
but the words must ultimately come to match with other 
words of the same orthography ; and individual example 
can only delay and not avert the transformation. 
The speaker's guide is expressed by Pope : 

" In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, — 

Alike fantastic, whether new or old; 

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, 

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." 



26 



English Pronunciation. 



In application of this principle, and in view of the ulti- 
mate destiny of imported words, the rule may be adopted 
to Anglicise the pronunciation of words wherever the doing 
so is free from the objection of singularity. 

An anomaly has recently been introduced of pronounc- 
ing such words as Celt, Celtic, Cicero, with the sound of k 
instead of the ordinary "soft" sound of<:. This is, no 
doubt, a reversion to the original pronunciation of the 
words, and therefore unobjectionable ; but those who adopt 
it are bound to change the orthography to Kelt, keltic, 
Kikero, and not do needless violence to one of the few 
phonetic rules of our language. The spelling " Cicero " 
with the pronunciation " Kikero " is a monstrosity. 

A most remarkable theory of elementary pronunciation 
was propounded in a recent report of one of the American 
Institutions for the Deaf and Dumb. The statement by 
the principal of the institution is that he had made a dis- 
covery, the description of which follows in his own words : 

" This principle can be briefly stated to be, that aspirate 
sounds are made by exhalation, while vocal sounds are 
made by inhalation. Thus the sound of p is made by 
closing the lips, parting them, and expelling the breath. 
The sound of b, on the contrary, is produced by the at- 
tempt to draw in the breath, while the lips are closed. The 
sound of 7?i is made by closing the lips and expanding the 
chest by drawing in air through the nose." 

The application of this theory would undoubtedly revol- 
utionise the teaching of articulation and speech-reading, 
by rendering speech altogether impossible either to the 
deaf or the hearing. It is difficult to believe in the reality 
of such an absurd promulgation, more especially by a 
teacher ; but there it stands where any one may read it, in 
the report for 1882 of the " New York Institution for the 



English Pronunciation. 



2 7 



Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb." If any one fact is 
established beyond controversy, it is that all speech, 
whether vocal or whispered, is formed of breath in outward 
flow ; and that the replenishment of the lungs by influx of 
air takes place during the pauses of sound. The im- 
portant practical point to be attended to, is to take care 
that this necessary influx shall be silent, regular, and suf- 
ficient.* 

The principle must never be lost sight of that consonants 
require the articulating organs to be separated in order to 
finish the element. Attention to this point will secure to 
speech the beauty of distinctness, a quality wanting which 
the finest composition loses its effect, and the highest ora- 
torical talent is obscured. The Rev. Mr. Austin, in his 
admirable book, the " Chironomia," compares the words of 
a good speaker to " beautiful coins newly issued from the 
mint, deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, 
neatly struck by the proper organs, distinct, sharp, in due 
succession, and of due weight." To realise this descrip- 
tion is to perfect the mechanical part of speech. 

One broad principle of organic action remains to be 
noticed. The lips and the tongue are apt to be pushed 
from position to position with an ungainliness of effect 
unless they receive room for a lightness of play by a pre- 
liminary separation of the organs. The precept, then, is : 
Always open the mouth before you begin to speak. What- 
ever initial element you propose to pronounce, the first 
action of the organs, essential to distinctness and lightness 
of articulation, is an opening of the mouth. 

Italian teachers of singing have long found fault with 
their English pupils that they would persist in singing 
through their teeth. Speaking through the teeth is still a 

* See " Respiration in Speech." 



28 



English Pronunciation. 



prevalent fault in England, much more so than in America. 
But it is not to this that reference is made. Many of the 
actions of the mouth require the teeth to be brought very 
close, although never quite in contact. Let the jaws ap- 
proximate without restraint when necessary, but give them 
always a free opening at the commencement of any utter- 
ance. Suppose the word you are going to pronounce to 
be a cake of gingerbread ; open the mouth as if to prepare 
for a good bite, and then proceed until you come to a 
pause. This simple action will cure speaking through the 
teeth, and contribute sharpness, grace, and other good 
qualities to pronunciation. 



English Phonetic Elements. 



29 



IV. ENGLISH PHONETIC ELEMENTS. 

The following arrangement exhibits all the English Pho- 
netic Elements, in a scheme of Roman letters, by means of 
which every detail of English pronunciation may be exactly 
represented in ordinary type. 

The mark (-) over vowels denotes the "long" or name- 
sounds of the letters ; the mark (u) denotes their second or 
"short " sounds ; the mark ( A ) denotes the sounds of the 
vowel-letters before r; and a dot under vowels denotes 
" obscure," unaccented sounds. The digraphs ah, ay, aw, 
00, ow, oy are associated with their most usual sounds, so as 
to make phonetic transcription as little as possible different 
from ordinary orthography. 



VOWELS. 

FIRST SOUNDS. 

Elements. Illustrative tvords. Elements. 

1 ay ale, day, weight. 5 ow 

2 a aerial, hesitate. 6 o 

3 e eel, seal, field. 7 u 

4 x idle, try, height. 8 00 



Illustrative words. 
old, know, beau, 
obey, also, 
use, beauty, ague, 
too, through, true. 



am, carry, 
end, merit, 
ill, spirit. 



SECOND SOUNDS. 



13 
14 



SOUNDS BEFORE R. 

15 a care, fair, there. 17 6 
^ j e her, earn. 18 u 

( i sir, firm. 19 60 



on, sorry, 
up, hurry, 
foot, put. 

ore, pour, floor, 
pure, cure, 
poor, tour, sure. 



23 



ADDITIONAL SOUNDS. 

ah ask, bath. 24 aw wall, saw, ought, 

ah ah, heart, father. 25 ow how, house, bough, 

ahy ay, naive. 26 oy boy, oil. 

aw watch, want. 



30 English Phonetic Elements. 



OBSCURE SOUNDS. 

Elements. Illustrative words. Elements. Illustrative words. 

27 a a, total, collar. 30 o -or, con-, com-. 

28 e -less, -ness, -ment. 31 u -our, -tion, -tious. 

29 i the, -ace, -age, -ain. 

CONSONANTS. 



NON-VOCAL. 



32. 


li 


hand, perhaps, vehement. 


3*- 


th 


thin, hath, athwart. 


33- 


yh 


hue, human. 


39- 


f 


fine, knife, laugh. 


34- 


\vh 


why, awhile. 


40. 


P 


peep, supper, hope. 


35' 


s 


say, cell, scene. 


41. 


t 


ten, matter, mate. 


36- 


sh 


wish, mission, notion. 


42. 


k 


key, cat, back, quite. 


37- 


ch 


each, fetch, church. 












VOCAL. 






43 


y 


ye, yes, use. 


52 


dh 


then, with, other. 


44. 


w 


we, way, beware. 


53- 


V 


vain, love, of. 


45- 


r 


ray, free, screw. 


54 


b 


babe, rub, robber. 


46. 


r 


air, ear, ire. 


55 


. d 


did, middle, made. 


47- 


1 


let, seal, mile. 


56. 


g 


gap, gun, plague. 


48 


1 


lure, lute, lucid. 


57 


m 


may, blame, hammer. 


49. 




zeal, as, rose. 


58 


n 


no, tune, banner. 


So- 


zh 


vision, pleasure, rouge. 


59 


ng 


ring, ink, uncle. 



51. j jail, jest, join. . 

The letters c, q, x, do not appear in the above scheme, 
because their sounds are represented by s and k. The 
letter g appears with its "hard" sound only, because its 
" soft " sound is represented by/ The letters ch and / are 
retained with their ordinary associations. 

Of the seven consonants denoted by digraphs, the sounds 
of wh, th t sh) ng arc very regularly associated with these 
letters ; but the sounds intended by yh, (/h, zh are never 
so written in ordinary orthography. 



English Phonetic Elements. 



3i 



The following tabular arrangement of English vowels 
will be found convenient, as showing the serial relations of 
the sounds. 




Alphabetics. 



33 



V. ALPHABETICS. 

Speech is altogether a very wonderful thing, in its pro- 
cesses as well as in its effects. Whether we adopt the theory 
that a primeval language was divinely communicated to the 
first human family, or that language has been from the 
beginning, what it certainly is now, the creation of man's 
invention stimulated by social necessities, we must equally 
recognise its mechanical nature. All human utterances 
may be resolved into elementary sounds; and all the 
varieties of elementary sounds in different languages are the 
result ot definite mechanical adjustments of the organs of 
speech. The organs are the same in all men ; and, conse- 
quently, every man possesses naturally the ability to speak 
any or every language. 

The difficulty of analysing words into their elementary 
sounds has been found exceedingly great, on account of 
the evanescent nature of the sounds, and the minuteness of 
the organic changes by which they are modified. We learn 
to speak by imitation, and we acquire by single perceptions 
a knowledge of words, the utterance of which involves very 
complex organic operations ; and the latter are performed 
by habit, without our knowledge of the mechanism on 
which we act. Not one person in a hundred could explain 
the means by which he pronounces the simplest word. 

We do not feel the inconvenience of this ignorance in con- 
nection with our mother-tongue, for at the period when we 
learn to speak we are altogether dependent on the faculty 
of imitation ; but, at a later period, when we task ourselves 
to the acquirement of foreign languages, under the guidance 
of our intellectual powers, and when the instinct of imitation 
has faded in the development of higher faculties, we become 
painfully conscious of the inconvenience of not knowing 
3 



34 



Alphabetics. 



how we speak. Our organs have become habituated to the 
formation of a certain set of sounds, in a certain order, and 
we cannot, without much labour, pronounce the very same 
sounds in a different order, or make the minute alterations 
in the working of our lips and tongue which are essential 
to accuracy in the utterance of another language. 

The difficulty is further increased by the associations of 
letters and sounds. In different languages, the same letters 
are conventionally assigned to different sounds ; or familiar 
sounds are associated with letters to which we have been 
accustomed to attach a different value, and there is no nat- 
ural connection between the literal sign of any sound and 
the organic action which produces the sound. Alphabets 
have been adopted and modified to suit local convenience, 
and on no acknowledged principle of fitness between letters 
and sounds; and the result is that the very object of alpha- 
betic writing has become lost in the confusion of letters. 

An alphabet that should furnish a distinct character for 
every sound in the whole circle of languages was, for long, 
a dream of philologists; but this difficulty prevented its 
realisation, namely, that the sounds of languages, their 
number, their nature, their analogies, their differences, 
baffled investigation ; while, of the small number of ele- 
ments respecting which there was agreement among au- 
thorities, the exact relations of the sounds to each other 
could not be satisfactorily determined. Scholars and trav- 
elers had brought their knowledge of strange tongues to 
bear upon the solution of the problem of a universal al- 
phabet, but without an approximation to success. In 1854, 
a conference of European scholars assembled to discuss 
the question ; and after four meetings, in which they could 
agree upon no more than seventeen elementary sounds as 
sufficiently definite to be included in the proposed universal 



Alphabetics. 



35 



alphabet, they separated, leaving this record in their fourth 
and final resolution : 

" There was a unanimous feeling that it would be useless 
and impossible to attempt to find for each possible sound 
a different graphic sign; but that a sufficient number of 
typical signs being formed, each nation or province would 
attach to them their own shade of sound in their own 
language nearest to it." 

" Impossible " is a rash word for science to pronounce ; 
for this impossibility was, ten years afterwards, an accom- 
plished fact. The record, however, stands, that, by means 
of a collation of alphabets (the only method then thought 
of), a universal alphabet was impossible — was not even to 
be hoped for. 

The reason will be found in this, that letters represent 
nothing real. The English JI, for instance, is the Greek and 
Russian e ; the English .Pis the Greek and Russian r ; and, 
so far as natural fitness is concerned, any one letter in the 
alphabet might have been any other. A principle remained 
to be discovered by which letters are made to represent 
absolute qualities of sound, so that, in whatever language 
a letter may be used, its phonetic power is identical. And, 
more than this, every distinguishable shade of sound can 
now be provided with its own graphic sign, so that dialects, 
and even individual peculiarities of utterance, can be repre- 
sented as clearly as the standard orthoepic varieties in lan- 
guages. And still more than this : every letter in the phys- 
iological alphabet exhibits in its shape a symbolic repre- 
sentation of the organic positions which are the mechanical 
cause of its peculiar sound, so that the letter is its own in- 
terpreter, and verbal combinations of letters constitute a 
real " visible speech " as exact as utterance itself. Nor is 
this all ; for however numerous may be the differences dis- 



36 



Alphabetics. 



cerned among tne elements of scattered languages, they 
are all representable by means of radical signs no greater 
in number than the letters of the English alphabet.* 



* See text-books of Visible Speech. 



Function of the Pharynx in Articulation. 37 



VI. THE FUNCTION OF THE PHARYNX IN 
ARTICULATION. 

Many of the principles originally evolved in the Author's 
" New Elucidation of the Principles of Speech and Elocu- 
tion," published in 1849, have since been reproduced under 
various authorships ; but one principle of primary impor- 
tance seems to have escaped similar appropriation. This 
is the function of the pharynx in articulation. This sub- 
ject was thus introduced in the work above referred to : 

" All actions of the vocal organs which partially or wholly obstruct, 
or which compress, the breath or voice, are called Articulations (or 
Consonants). The necessary effect of such obstruction or compression 
is a degree of explosiveness in the breath when the conjoined or ap- 
proximated organs are separated. Hence arises an element of audibil- 
ity produced by or within the mouth. * * * When the current of 
unvocalised breath is altogether stopped by organic contact — as in 
p, t, k, — the only audibility that the letter so formed can have is the 
puff or explosion which follows the separation of the organs. This 
must, therefore, be clearly heard or the letter is practically lost. In the 
mode of producing this little effect lies one of the most important prin- 
ciples of speech — a principle on the right application of which depends 
much of a speaker's distinctness, and all his ease. * * * Here lies 
the point of importance. If only the breath in the mouth, and not any 
from the lungs, be ejected, a distinct, sharp, quick percussion will be 
heard, which gives to these breath-articulations all the audibility of 
which they are susceptible. * * * The want of pharyngeal power 
manifests itself by distension of the lips and cheeks iorp and b ; by incon- 
tinency of breath for t, k, d, g ; by laborious actions of the chest to 
create the explosive audibility of these letters ; by scattering the saliva 
for s,f, and other continuous elements ; and by general indistinctness 
of articulation. * * * It is the want of power to retain the breath 
after consonants which causes the great difficulty that stammerers ex- 
perience in joining consonants to succeeding vowels. They will often 
get smoothly over the consonant and stumble at the vowel. They must 
bear in mind that the breath in articulation is exploded from the mouth 
and not from the chest. The space within which the air is compressed 
is above the glottis, and the effect of the compression must not be 
communicated below the glottis." 



38 Function of jhe Pharynx in Articulation. 

These quotations show something of the scope of 
pharyngeal action in articulation. Forty years of profes- 
sional practice have confirmed these early views as to the 
fundamental importance of this subject. The theory is 
therefore confidently reiterated, that : Consonantal action 
should be entirely oral and pharyngeal, and that the purity 
of the voice should not be interfered with by the actions 
of the mouth. The voice-organ and the articulating organs 
are entirely separate and independent ; and the elements 
of their respective utterances are not coalescent, but merely 
sequent, however rapid and close may be their apparent 
connection. The quality of distinct, sharp, clear-cut artic- 
ulation depends on the due separation of the functions of 
the vocalising and the articulating organs. The vocal 
sound seems to be unbroken, because the actions of the 
tongue and the lips, while interwoven with it, do not inter- 
fere with it. 

Singing exemplifies this perfectly, in the delivery of great 
artists, whose tones flow on in uninterrupted purity, while 
every syllable of the concurrent language is heard with 
absolute precision. But this perfection is rare. And 
equally rare is that light and crisp articulation in speech, 
which gives such a refined pleasure to the hearer, although 
the source of it he may not divine, nor the speaker himself 
be conscious of it. 

All singers and all speakers may attain this bright ex- 
cellence of articulation by forming consonants with the 
economic impulses of the pharynx, instead of the wasteful 
expulsions of breath from the chest. Music has furnished 
us with charmingly suggestive "songs without words," but 
singers should be ashamed to merely instrumentalise their 
songs upon the organ of voice, as if the music were every- 
thing and the words nothing. This unintellectual theory is 



Function of the Pharynx in Articulation. 39 

sometimes avowed by singers ; but it only displays igno- 
rance of the highest art in song. 

The element of audibility in oratory, as in singing, is the 
voice ; but the voice carries with it to the remotest corners 
of church, hall or theatre, the articulations of the mouth, 
which, of themselves, would be inaudible over such an 
area. Let the fact be noted that this beautiful result, when 
most perfectly attained, does not involve laborious effort, 
but, on the contrary, is accomplished with a minimum of 
labour and fatigue, on the part whether of speaker or 
singer. 

The conversational voice is seldom purely sonorous; 
being depraved in quality by a slurring breathiness of con- 
sonants. When the speaker carries this conversational 
voice into oratory he cannot make himself understood by 
hearers a few feet from the platform. His syllables run 
together into a confused mass, which requires the closest 
attention to disintegrate it into sense. A speaker trained 
to the proper use of the pharynx in articulation — or one 
who has happily acquired the knack instinctively — is 
clearly intelligible at the farthest limits to which his voice 
can reach ; and he has, besides, a power of adapting the 
volume of sound to the space to be filled, by the unfatigu- 
ing impulses of the diaphragm. Many speakers with sten- 
torian voices that could fill the largest hall, attempt in vain 
to speak intelligibly, even to a small audience; while 
others, with comparatively thin, small voices, find no dif- 
ficulty in speaking satisfactorily to a large assemblage. The 
difference lies altogether in pharyngeal action, which, in 
the latter class, clearly defines every syllable of sound; 
while, in the former class, what reaches the ear is little 
more than noise. 



40 Function of the Pharynx in Articulation. 



"It is difficult to make this subject sufficiently clear by a brief de- 
scription ; and it would be still more difficult, perhaps, to get the gener- 
ality of readers to study a lengthened explanation ; but, with a little 
thought and a little experiment, what has been said will suffice."* 

The practical value of the theory of pharyngeal action, 
above outlined, cannot be too strongly impressed on pro- 
fessional students. It is, indeed, the key to excellence of 
articulation, in speech or song. 



* " A New Elucidation," etc., p. 42. 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 41 



VII. THE RELATION OF TONES TO LANGUAGE. 

The Relation of Tones to Language is a subject of great 
fundamental importance. Clear ideas on this point should 
have the effect of commending the study of the art of 
delivery to all Avhose professional prospects involve the 
exercise of the voice. 

The term Elocution — which originally meant the choice 
of words — refers solely, in modern use, to the delivery 
of language ; to manner, as distinct from matter. Elocu- 
tion may be defined as the art of bringing out that which 
is within ; that is to say, in a double sense, within the words, 
or the thought intended by the writer; and within the 
speaker, or the feeling awakened by the thought. Elocution 
is only a part of the art of delivery ; for composition and 
all the departments of rhetoric are subsidiary to the same 
end ; but Elocution is complete in itself, although part of a 
greater whole. It includes all the audible and visible signs 
of that spiritual language which words are too gross, too 
slow, and too imperfect to express. The elements of this 
language are tones, looks, gestures, pauses, and gradations 
of time and force ; and the instrument of utterance is the 
whole physical frame. 

The true objects of elocutionary study are only two : 
the mastery of the instrument of expression, and the dis- 
cernment of the principles of expression. The avenues of 
utterance must first be made clear ; then that which is within 
the mind will find its own way out, its own way being, 
besides, in any given case, the best of all ways. 

This doctrine is not that which has been commonly taught. 
The aim has been to create a uniformity of manner among 
different speakers ; to make a class of students, as it were, 
give forth the measured unisons of barrel-organs. In con- 



42 The Relation of Tones to Language. 

sequence of the mimetic trifling which has thus, unfortu- 
nately, become associated with the very name of Elocution, 
the study of the art has been too generally misprised, and 
most neglected exactly where it was most needed. For 
this misfortune a false theory is fundamentally to blame ; 
the theory, namely, that the tones of the voice in speech 
are governed by the constructive forms of language. A 
thought may be expressed in various ways, according to 
the motive, the taste, or the caprice of the writer ; but the 
theory of sentential intonation prescribes a delivery which 
is not governed by the thought, but by the language only ; 
one or other of a set of tunes — as we may call them — 
being supposed to be appropriate to every given form of 
construction. These sentential tunes are not all, nor is any 
one of them always, at variance with nature ; but the as- 
sumed association between construction and intonation, 
from which they are derived, has no existence. Any kind 
of sentence, and any part of a sentence, may be pronounced 
with any possible variety of tone, and still, in certain 
circumstances, be natural. Thus we often interrogate with 
the words of assertion, and assert with the language of in- 
terrogation ; and by the very same arrangement of words 
we distinctly convey either an entreaty or a command. 
Language is constantly modified and interpreted by tone ; 
so that one of the commonest facts in connection with 
speech is that verbally we may say one thing, and yet, by 
delivery, be clearly understood to mean another. 

The misleading principle of governing the voice by forms 
of language has done much to hinder the progress of elo- 
cutionary science. It has prevented learners from thinking 
on the subject, and has rendered pedantic and ridiculous 
the delivery of many, who, if they had been left to the ex- 
ercise of their own instincts, might have become good 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 43 

speakers. With most persons the manner of utterance has 
become denaturalised by the neglect of vocal principles at 
school, and the meaningless way in which school-exercises 
are allowed to be delivered. The ear is thus rendered 
unappreciative, and the faculty of apprehension is itself 
impaired. 

The only difficulty in the application of tones to lan- 
guage lies in the discrimination of the tones themselves ; not 
in the knowledge of when to apply this or that tone, but in 
the ability to produce any tone that may be desired, and to 
recognise any tone that may be produced. The gamut of 
tones should be familiar to every ear and to every voice, 
and that not so much as the result of direct instruction, as 
from mere observation and daily habit in the common 
school. But, instead of coming to the subject with trained 
ears, learners^ as a rule, are unable to distinguish the radi- 
cal difference between pitch and inflexion. 

In touching the keys of a piano, the differences which 
we discern are differences of pitch; the notes constituting, 
as it were, a flight of steps which we may ascend or 
descend. But each step is level. All musical notes con- 
sist of such steps, of greater or less height; and melody 
consists in leaps, or sometimes in partially gliding transi- 
tions, from one level to another. Speaking tones, or in- 
flexions, have the same variety of ascent or descent, but 
without steps. They slide directly upwards or downwards, 
or they undulate with a mixture of ascending and descend- 
ing curves, but they are always in rising or falling progres- 
sion, and never entirely level. A glide in music is a step 
with the angle rounded off; a speaking inflexion is a con 
tinuous curve ; it has no angle at all. Such is the mech- 
anism of individual inflexions ; but the principle requires 
to be carefully noticed : that the voice must not slide from 



44 The Relation of Tones to Language. 



one inflexion to another. From the point at which one 
terminates, the voice must leap to the higher or lower point 
at which the next inflexion commences. Every impulse 
must be separated in this way, to mark the boundary of its 
expressiveness. Otherwise, the unbroken swinging of the 
voice from inflexion to inflexion produces that commonest 
of all vocal faults called " sing-song." 

Another principle of equal importance is : that there 
must be a unity of inflexion throughout every accentual 
phrase. The vocal movement begins on the accented syl- 
lable, and the same tone, or flexion, must be continued or 
repeated subordinately upon all the dependent syllables or 
words that follow the accent Thus: 

f To-morrow ? 
Simple I To-morrow, didst thou say? 



! Methought 
Simple j \ 
Fall. } Methought I heard 
\ \ 
I Methought I heard Horatio say. 

\ 

These are instances of a single vocal turn expanded over 
a series of words. This principle, essential to the natural 
delivery of language, applies equally to compound as to 
simple inflexions. Thus : 



j To-morrow, didst thou say, Horatio? 



r \ 

1 Alftl-inn 




1 can raise no money 



/ 



I can raise no money by vile means. 



Compound 



f You 



Fall 



j You are the author 



You are the author of this conspiracy. 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 45 

The characteristic turn is in all these cases developed on 
a single syllable, and the termination of the tone is ex- 
panded over all the dependent syllables or words. This 
preservation of the accentual inflexion is necessary to bring 
out the one thought in the sentence ; whereas, diversity of 
tones in a single accentual phrase would neutralise and 
destroy expressiveness. It is not always easy to discover 
the meaning that lies involved in words ; but a public 
reader cannot be indefinite. He must determine and ex- 
press precise intention in every phrase. Delivery will ex- 
press something whether he will or no, and it will show 
nothing more clearly than the absence of a settled meaning 
in his own mind. 

The true Relation of Tones to Language is, fortunately, 
susceptible of direct experimental proof. There are but 
three constructive varieties of sentences : Assertive, Inter- 
rogative, and Imperative. Take one sentence of each kind 
and pronounce it with all the various modes of vocal in- 
flexion, and a difference of meaning will be recognised in 
each illustration. This difference cannot be due to the 
form of words, because that remains the same, and can 
only, therefore, be owing to the inherent expressiveness of 
the tones. 

Test this, first, with Assertive language : 

" It is reasonable " — This is the tone of ordinary unem- 
\ 

phatic statement; =" I admit the fact." 
\ 

" It is reasonable " — This tone adds to affirmation the 
force of dogmatism ; =" The fact cannot be disputed." 
J 

" It is reasonable" — The sentence is now no longer as- 
sertive in effect, but by tone converted into a query ; = 
" Don't you think so ? " 



46 The Relation of Tones to Language. 



" It is reasonable " — The tone, still interrogative, has 

the added force of exclamatory appeal ; =" Can there be 
a doubt of it ? " 

"It is reasonable" — The expression is no longer either 
assertive or interrogative ; the tone conveys a qualified af- 
firmation, suggestive of a contrary consideration; =" But 
impolitic " (or some such antithesis). 

" It is reasonable " — In this case the tone suggests that 

contrary considerations have no force j =" Notwithstanding 
what has been urged." 

Take now an Interrogative form of words : 

"Are you satisfied ? " — This is the tone of ordinary in- 
quiry; ==" Please inform me." 

"Are you satisfied?" — This tone adds to inquiry the 
/ 

force of incredulity or surprise ; =" Can you possibly be so ? " 

"Are you satisfied ? " — Here the interrogative words 
\ 

have become assertive by tone ; conveying the speaker's 
confidence as clearly as by the equivalent words " You 
ought to be so." 

"Are you satisfied ? " — This tone combined with interro- 
gative words is very expressive ; suggesting that some 
drawback may have been overlooked. 

" Are you satisfied ? " — This is a very common and sug- 
gestive combination, conveying a reference to doubt or 
difficulty that may have been previously entertained. 

The only remaining form of construction is the Impera- 
tive, as in the sentence 

"Give an answer" — That tone is injunctive; = " I 
\ 

wish you to do so." 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 47 



" Give an answer " — That is mandatory; = " I demand 
that you do so." 

" Give an answer" — That is appellatory ; = " Will you 
please to do so ? " 

" Give an answer" — That is exclamatory or indignant; 

= " How can you expect it ? " 

" Give an answer" — That is warning; = " Do so on 
your peril." 

" Give an answer " — That is impatient and peremptory ; 
= " Do so without evasion." 

The principle of vocal expression may be further tested 
on single unconnected words, which will be found by tone 
alone to convey the force of sentences. Thus : 



/ 

" Indeed " = Is it ? 

" Indeed " = Can it be ? 

/ 

" Indeed " = It is. 

\ 
\ 

" Indeed " = It must be. 

" Indeed " = It may be, but — etc. 

"Indeed" = It is, notwithstanding — etc. 



These radical varieties of speaking tones are, like the 
colours in the prismatic spectrum, few in number, but in 
their effects and shadings they are as diversified as the 
countless hues derived from the small gamut of primitive 
colours. 

The preceding examples show conclusively that, while 
language and tone mutually modify meaning, tone has an 
expressiveness of its own. Discarding the modifying in- 



48 The Relation of Tones to Language. 

fluences of language entirely, we arrive at the following 
fundamental principles of vocal expression : 

(1) A Rising tone is Prospective, or anticipatory of 
meaning. 

(2) A Falling tone is Retrospective, or completive of 
meaning. 

(3) A Mixed or Undulating tone is Suggestive, or infe- 
rential of meaning. 

(4) An approximately Level tone is Reflective, or sus- 
pensive of meaning. 

Wherever our meaning is dependent on something to 
follow, although the sentence may have come to a full 
stop, our tones point onward, — they rise ; wherever our 
meaning is contained in what has been said, although there 
may not be even a comma written, our tones point back- 
ward, — they fall ; wherever our words mean something 
different from their common acceptation, our tones are 
suggestively mixed ; and wherever our meaning is uncer- 
tain, or indefinite, our tones are proportionally inexpressive 
and level. 

Language, then, is dependent on tone for the sense m 
which it is to be understood ; and there is no necessary 
correspondence between the form of a sentence and the 
manner of its delivery. The assumption of some such 
connection is the cause which makes reading, in general, so 
different from speaking. 

Speakers do not speak in periods. They have no thought 
of commas or semicolons ; they utter ideas ; and in devel- 
oping these, the distinctions of loose and compact sen- 
tences, inverted, direct, and other forms of construction, 
never enter the mind. So it should be with readers. They 
need take no thought of the kind of sentence they have to 
deal with, but simply ascertain its contextual meaning, 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 49 

master its intention, and give that utterance in precisely 
the same manner, whatever may be the rhetorical form of 
the language. 

In connection with the definition before given of Elocu- 
tion, as the art of bringing out that which is within, the 
inference is by no means intended that the study of Deliv- 
ery makes no addition to the stores of knowledge ; but 
only, that its object is not accumulation, but distribution. 
There is much of real intellectual acquisition in the princi- 
ples of Expression. There is a vocal Logic, — there is a 
Rhetoric of inflexion, — there is a Poetry of style, and a 
Commentator's explanatoriness of modulation; all of which 
are combined in effective delivery. 

How often have we heard an address, combining all the 
graces of literary style, but which we would have much 
preferred to read for ourselves, so constantly was the atten- 
tion taken from the subject by the peculiarities of the 
speaker. Archbishop Whately has observed, as one of the 
characteristics of a good delivery, that the more perfect it 
is the more will it withdraw attention from itself and escape 
either the censure or the praise of the hearers. The offence 
is, therefore, equally great whether we " overdo " by osten- 
tation, or " come tardy off" by defect; and all who would 
merit the distinction of being natural speakers will avoid 
everything which could militate in either way against the 
effect which it is their intention to produce. 

Different ends justify the most varied and even opposite 
means ; and the manner which would be justly approved 
in debate might be extravagant in narrative, irreverent in 
prayer, tame in passion, and variously objectionable in 
many circumstances. Nothing that does not violate natural 
principles can be wrong in itself, and no style, however 
faultless, can be always right. Every manner has its ap- 
4 



50 The Relation of Tones to Language. 

propriate occasion, and there is thus the widest scope for 
the exercise of judgement and taste in " suiting the action 
to the word " and "making the sound an echo to the sense." 
The gravity of some persons is irresistibly comic, and the 
mirth of others is perfectly saddening. Some entreat as if 
they were commanding , others inform as if they were in- 
quiring. Sometimes we hear a magnificent organ of voice 
that meanders through its gamut with a total absence of 
definite purpose ; and at other times we hear a thin, ill- 
formed voice coupled with a fine appreciation of sense. A 
proper training would, in such cases, discipline the un- 
principled voice and energise the feeble one. 

The varieties of what may be called elocutionary raw 
material are endless, and the processes of manufacture re- 
quire to be modified accordingly. So, too, the finished 
product is almost as various as the raw material ; depend- 
ing, as it must in a great degree, upon original mental and 
physical endowments. Uniformity of result is neither pos- 
sible nor desirable. This much, however, is attainable in 
common by all : — A knowledge of what contributes to 
effectiveness and of what is opposed to it ; of " how to do" 
the former, and " how not to do " the latter ; so that we 
may, at least, improve the powers we possess and turn them 
to good account. 

The advantages of effective elocution may be assumed 
to be universally appreciated ; but, strangely, the need of 
study to attain effectiveness requires to be vindicated 
against the objections of those who confound elocution with 
elocutionary Systems. Archbishop Whately, for instance, 
in treating of Delivery in his Work on Rhetoric has, un- 
fortunately, given sanction to the detractions of prejudice. 
In his just abhorrence of the mechanical style of reading, 
inculcated by the sentential rules of elocutionary Systems, 



The Relation of Tones to Language. 51 

he has carried his denunciation to the absurd length of con- 
temning all attempts at methodical instruction. The sum 
of his advice is " be natural ; " but he argues as if the 
acceptance of the precept would secure its application. 
He says, in effect, "Do not study how to be natural ; do 
not attempt to discover the principles of nature ; avoid all 
U theorising as to the means ; but simply be natural." This 
is, no doubt, the aspiration of every speaker, even of those 
who most miserably fail in their public efforts. All would 
be natural if they only knew how to attain that end. But 
the modus operandi is necessarily an Art, and must be studied 
as such. Art is not opposed to Nature, as the dictum of 
Archbishop Whately would seem to imply ; and the Art of 
Elocution is but the application of principles which Science 
has deduced from Nature. Shakespeare expresses the true 
relation ; his immediate reference is to the florist's art, but 
the truth he utters is of universal applicability : 

" Nature is made better by no mean, 
But nature makes that mean. This is an art 
Which does mend nature, — but the art itself 
Is nature." 



The Tones of Speech. 



53 



VIII. THE TONES OF SPEECH. 

The tones of speech are slides or flexions of the voice, 
to a higher or lower than the commencing pitch. The pitch 
of the tone is its accented part, and the sliding termination 
is unaccented. The most extended inflexion does not 
necessarily rise higher or fall lower than a shorter inflexion ; 
but, in proportion to its emphasis, the tone is pitched lower 
for a rise and higher for a fall. 

The two vocal flexions are susceptible of a very great 
amount of variety : (I) in the extent to which they rise or 
fall — which may be through the interval of a semitone or 
less, or through that of an octave, or more ; (II) in the 
commencing pitch of the movement — which may be at 
any point within the compass of the voice. Thus a mere 
succession of ups and downs is relieved from any monotony 
of repetition by an endless diversity of pitch and range. 

Another vocal principle — universally made use of, but 
instinctively, and without recognition — constitutes what 
may be called the Melody of speech : namely, that an in- 
flexion, of whatever kind, is preceded by a tone which is 
high or low in opposition to the pitch of the inflexion. The 
effect of this preparatory opposition of tone is to furnish 
the ear with a measure of the height or depth of the in- 
flective pitch, and to increase the apparent amount of its 
variety. This principle may be graphically represented 
thus : 



Middle pitch. 



I 


2 


3 


4 


/ 






\ 




/ 


V 





1. Rising inflexion with high pitch: preparatory tone (.) low. 

2. " " " low " " " "high. 

3. Falling " " low " " " " high. 

4. " " " high " " " " low. 



54 



The Tones of Speech. 



Applying this principle to the pronunciation of a word, 
something of the variety attainable by its means will be 
readily seen. The "preparatory" tone is, of course, itself 
inflected, and so the variety is farther increased as the curve 
of the latter is turned towards, or from, the accented in- 
flexion. In this way, each simple inflexion yields four 
modes of pronouncing a single word. The emphatic force 
of the utterance is progressively stronger from the first to 
the last of the series. Thus : 

Rising: indeed indeed indeed indeed. 

j \ > / 

Falling : Indeed indeed indeed indeed. 
\ \ / > 

The combination of the two vocal movements on a single 

syllabic impulse produces a pair of compound inflexions 
which exhibit the same inherent expressiveness. Simple 
tones accompany direct and simple language ; compound 
tones accompany language which means more or less than 
the words themselves express. The contrasted tones in the 
compound suggest a contrast in sense, between the word 
used and some other word implied. Each compound in 
flexion adds to the expressiveness of its concluding slide 
an inferential suggestion in accordance with its commencing 
slide. Thus, a compound rise (which commences with a 
fall) involves a positive inference ; and a compound fall 
(which commences with a rise) involves a negative in- 
ference ; as : 

Not so implying but otherwise. 

But so " and not otherwise. 

Each of the compound inflexions, like the simple ones, 
already illustrated, furnishes a series of four modes of pro- 
nouncing a single word. The emphatic force progressively 
increases from the first to the last of the modes. Thus : 



The Tones of Speech. 



55 



Rising: indeed 
Falling: indeed 

A double compound inflexion, or " wave," with a rising 
termination, (A/) completes the mechanical varieties of 
speaking tones. This very expressive tonic element is used 
wherever a compound fall is accompanied by incomplete 
sense or by interrogation. The sarcastic antithesis on the 
word " catalogue " in the following lines is naturally ex- 
pressed by this wave. 

" I Mut. We are men, my lord. 

Mac, Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men, 

As hounds and greyhounds, etc. 

Macbeth, Act III, Scene I. 

The meaning of the slides is the same whether in simple 
or in compound inflexions. A tone with a rising termina- 
tion expresses the speaker's indecision, or it appeals to the 
hearer; a tone with a falling termination expresses the 
speaker's decision, or it enjoins on the hearer. 

The mechanical varieties of tones being so few in number, 
the student of speech may easily fix their expressiveness in 
his mind. The tones will probably be clearly apprehended 
and naturally produced, by the following experiment, which 
should be repeated until a successful result is attained. 
Pronounce the word "yes " so as to imply or suggest the 
succeeding words in this illustration : 



indeed indeed indeed. 
^ / \ 

indeed indeed indeed. 



56 The Tones of Speech. 

Yes — implying " Do you really mean that ? " 

Yes " "I quite agree with that." 

Yes " "Possibly — but it may be otherwise." 

Yes " Undoubtedly — for it cannot be otherwise." 

Yes " Seemingly, at first — but query ? " 



The Instrument of Speech. 



57 



IX. THE INSTRUMENT OF SPEECH. 

The speaking apparatus consists first of a reservoir for air ; 
secondly of a reed for forming sound ; and thirdly of a 
resonance-box susceptible of a great variety of modifying 
configurations. The air-reservoir is the cavity of the chest ; 
the sounding-reed is in the throat ; the resonance-box con- 
sists of the cavities of the pharynx and the mouth. By con- 
sidering the instrument of speech in this simple manner, a 
clearer idea will be gained of the mutual relations of the 
organs of respiration, voice, and articulation, than by the 
most exact study of the organs themselves. Thus : the air- 
reservoir may be too contracted, or it may be insufficiently 
charged ; the reed may be out of order ; or some part of 
the resonance-box may be encumbered, or it may be leaky ; 
and corresponding imperfections will follow. 

Speech consists of breath emitted ; and, consequently, 
inflation of the lungs must always precede utterance. A 
full inspiration dilates the chest in all directions, and when 
the lungs are really filled, they will be felt to expand the 
back as well as the chest. This may be taken as the test 
of complete inflation. Speaking and singing are alike in this 
respect : they are both processes of expiration ; and vocal 
exercise in either way is healthful and unfatiguing, in pro- 
portion as the lungs are kept well supplied with air, and 
replenished at moderate intervals. 

It is a common error to suppose that the breath should 
be inhaled only at the commencement of a sentence ; and 
that, in proportion to the length of the period, should be 
the quantity of air inspired. The effect of such sentential 
respiration is to give disproportionate energy to the com- 
mencement of a period, and to cause the termination — 
which is generally the most important part — to sink into 



5S 



The Instrument of Speech. 



feebleness and inaudibility. One of the best qualities of 
delivery is that of sustaining an equal volume of voice 
throughout the longest period ; and this can only be done 
by frequent inspirations. Speech really uses very little 
breath, and the chest would be uncomfortably distended if 
the breath were held in at every pause. Pause should, 
therefore, be synonymous with change of breath. In this 
way, respiration, while supplying the artificial requirements 
of utterance, will, at the same time, fulfil its vital functions 
without interruption. 

All audibility of respiration is due to contraction of the 
air-passages ; these, therefore, should be perfectly expanded 
in inspiration, .or the process will be disagreeably manifest. 
Some speakers breathe as if the fingers of a garrotter were 
compressing the windpipe, and every inspiration seems an 
appeal for sympathy with strangulation. This blemish 
should be carefully avoided. Nature has provided us with 
two channels for respiration — the nostrils and the mouth ; 
the former to be used when the latter is closed, or engaged 
in fulfilling other functions, as in mastication ; but in speech, 
both channels should be used, and, if neither of them is 
abnormally constricted, the fault of audible respiration will 
be easily prevented. 

Any part of the breath-channel, from the top of the wind- 
pipe to the lips, may be closed or contracted in any degree, 
at will ; and these modifications are the mechanical cause 
of the various elementary sounds of speech. The wind- 
pipe is surmounted by a cartilaginous box, called the larynx, 
the component parts of which are susceptible of a multitude 
of minute adjustments affecting the size and shape of the 
interior passage. The lid of this box is divided in the 
centre, so that, when the central edges meet, the box is 
closed, as at the commencement of a cough ; and when 



The Instrument of Speech. 



59 



they separate, by sliding to right and left, the passage is 
opened, in any degree, from the narrowest fissure to the 
full extent of the organ. The aperture of the larynx is 
called the glottis; and its edges are called the vocal liga- 
ments. 

Voice is simply the sound caused by the friction of the 
breath passing through the narrow glottis, and setting its 
edges in vibration. The length of the vibrating mem- 
branes, and the degree of their tension, affect the pitch of 
the voice, and relaxation of the vocal ligaments produces 
hoarseness. 

The pharynx is the space between the top of the wind- 
pipe and the mouth. The degree in which the cavity of 
the pharynx is contracted or expanded affects the character 
and quality of elementary sounds. Thus the sound of ah 
results from the maximum enlargement of the space be- 
tween the root of the tongue and the back of the pharynx ; 
and the sound of gargling results from the narrowing of the 
same passage, by the close approximation of the tongue to 
the pharynx. 

The pharynx communicates both with the nostrils and 
the mouth. Between these passages the soft-palate is sus- 
pended as a valve, by means of which the nostrils or the 
mouth may be closed or opened, separately or simul- 
taneously. Both passages are closed in pronouncing k ; 
the passage to the mouth is closed, and that to the nostrils 
opened, in pronouncing the final consonant in the word 
song ; both passages are open in pronouncing the French 
sounds in, on, un, etc. ; and the nasal passage is closed, 
and the oral passage open, in pronouncing ordinary vowel 
sounds. 

The mouth consists of the passive organs — the palate 
and the teeth; and the active organs — the tongue and 



6o The Instrument of Speech. 



the lips ; by means of which the size and the shape of the 
oral cavity are altered at will, in a variety of degrees and 
modes. For example : a series of Back Vowels results from 
approximation of the tongue to the back of the palate ; a 
series of Front Vowels from approximation to the front of 
the palate ; and a series of Intermediate Vowels by ap- 
proximation of the middle of the tongue to the roof of the 
mouth. The lips also modify the voice-channel, and yield 
a labialised or "round " variety for every vowel formed by 
the tongue. 

Consonants are transitional closures or squeezings, or 
vibrations of portions of the breath-passage, in the throat 
or the mouth. The audible results are puffs or hisses of 
the breath, or flaps of the articulating organs. Closures 
with suction are also consonant elements in some languages. 
The material affected by consonant-actions may be vocal 
or non-vocal, and the emission may be through the mouth 
or through the nose. Another class of elements called 
" glides " occupy an intermediate place between vowels 
and consonants. For a full detail of the various elements 
of speech, the reader is referred to the appropriate Text- 
books. 

Enough has been said here to show that the formation 
of speech-sounds is entirely mechanical, and that, therefore, 
any defect or peculiarity of utterance is perfectly suscepti- 
ble of correction. The only difficulty lies in the total un- 
consciousness with which the acts of speech are generally 
performed. Master the instrument, and correction is easy. 
So, too, the peculiar sounds of foreign languages may be 
acquired in vernacular perfection by those who will first 
learn their mechanism, and then overcome old tendencies, 
or the vis inertia of unaccustomed organs, by a moderate 
amount of elementary exercise. 



The Instrument of Speech. 6i 

One other point remains to be noticed in connection 
with the organs of speech, namely, the action of the jaw. 
The jaw has perfect independence of motion in every di- 
rection, but in speech it should move only vertically. Al- 
ternating vertical motions may be either down and up, or 
up and down, according as the force of the action is in one 
or the other direction. The jaw moves down and up in 
mastication ; but in speech iLs action should be always the 
reverse, or up and down. The fall of the jaw should be 
gentle, as if by its own weight ; and it should never quite 
come in contact with the upper teeth. 



Respiration in Speech. 



63 



X. RESPIRATION IN SPEECH. 

The amount of air ordinarily inspired for vital wants is 
insufficient for the necessities of energetic speech. A full 
inspiration, expanding the chest in all directions, should be 
made by a speaker at all long pauses ; but at shorter pauses 
he will not neglect additional replenishments so as to keep 
the bellows of his speaking machine from collapsing during 
the longest outflow. The fact is elsewhere referred to * 
that no labour is required to fill the lungs ; atmospheric 
pressure will accomplish this, if only the aperture of the 
windpipe is open, and the elastic walls and base of the 
chest are free to distend. 

Inspiration in speech may take place either through the 
mouth, or through the nostrils, or through both passages 
simultaneously. The nasal passages open into the cavity 
behind the soft-palate, so that both the oral and the nasal 
channels unite above the entrance to the windpipe. A 
large supply will, obviously, be more speedily taken in 
through both external openings than through either of 
them singly ; and in order to breathe exclusively through 
one of the passages, the other must be closed. 

The mouth may be effectually closed without shutting 
the lips ; all that is necessary being to put the tongue in a 
" shut " consonant position, as for / or k. But there is no 
need to close the mouth-passage during oratorical breath- 
ing. The speaker should attend only to the expansion of 
the chest as a bellows. One does not stop up the nozzle 
of the bellows when he lifts the board, but the air is al- 
lowed to go in as it can, by both nozzle and valve. 

Under certain circumstances, breathing through the 
nostrils, to the exclusion of the mouth, is the preferable 
* See " Defects and Impediments of Speech." 



64 



Respiration in Speech. 



mode. The air in traversing the cavities above the palate, 
is tempered before it reaches the throat ; and this is im- 
portant when the atmosphere is unfavourable to delicate 
organs, and especially when a sudden change of tempera- 
ture has to be encountered ; as when passing from a heated 
room into the outside air. A habit of nasal breathing is 
then, undoubtedly, to be recommended on sanitary grounds. 
But in the comparatively equal temperature of an assembly- 
hall, church or theatre, no danger is to be apprehended 
from the mouth-breathing, which is a necessity to the com- 
fort and the effectiveness of the speaker. 

Some impediments to free respiration are to be carefully 
avoided by the orator ; such as making a full meal imme- 
diately before speaking ; or wearing clothes which unduly 
confine the action of the throat, the chest or the abdomen. 

Another impediment arises from a bent position of the 
head, which restricts the throat. This last is, no doubt, the 
principal cause of an ailment to which clerical readers are 
so specially subject, that the affection has been dignified 
with the name of dysphoria clerkorum. We seldom hear of 
actors or barristers suffering from this complaint, which, if 
it arose merely from vocal exercise, would affect these, as 
well as the clerical classes of public speakers. The truth 
is, that speaking is the most healthful of all exercises, if it 
be not rendered injurious by causes which the speaker can 
himself prevent. 



Phonetic Syllabication. 



65 



XI. PHONETIC SYLLABICATION. 

The division of words into syllables for the purpose of 
showing pronunciation is not the same as the division to 
show the etymology or derivation of words. A single con- 
sonant between vowels is syllabled with the first vowel if 
it is " short," and with the second vowel if the first is 
"long;" as in rap-id, la-bour, tep-id, me-ter, civ-il, ci-der, 
frol-ic, mo-lar, slud-y, stu-pid. The reason for this arrange- 
ment does not lie in the nature of the sounds, but simply in 
the fact that the same vowel letter has to do duty for two 
sounds, which are thus distinguished. 

The same reason originally led to the doubling of con- 
sonants between vowels, as an orthographic expedient to 
enable the vowel letters to represent both "long" and 
" short " sounds without ambiguity ; as in cable, cabbage, 
cedar, cellar, bible, middle, total, cottage, bugle, rubbish. 
Words with double consonants are generally syllabled by 
dividing the consonants ; as cab-bage, cel-lar, etc.; but this 
is misleading, because the consonant is really single tc the 
ear. When such words are re-spelled to indicate pronuncia- 
tion, the second consonant should be omitted. 

The doubling of consonants to show " short " vowels has 
led to the mistaken belief that short vowels cannot be final 
in syllables. If the alphabet had been provided with dis- 
tinctive letters for the various vowel sounds, such an idea 
could never have been entertained. The point would have 
been immaterial, but for certain inconveniences which arise 
from acting on the belief. 

The practical result of this erroneous theory is that in the 
customary division of words containing r or rr between 
vowels, the reader is phonetically misled. For example, 
the syllables car, ver, ter, spir, mir, sor, hur — which are 
5 



66 



Phonetic Syllabication. 



written as the first part of the words carry, very, terrible, 
spirit, mirror, sorrow, hurry — suggest entirely different 
sounds from those heard in these words. The letter r at the 
end of a syllable has invariably its glide sound ; but in the 
above words the r has no trace of the soft gliding quality, 
but is pronounced with its full consonant power. Further, 
the vowels a, e y i, before final r, have sounds distinct 
from those heard in the above words. Therefore, in re- 
spelling to show pronunciation, such words, if divided at 
all, should be syllabled cd-ry, ve-ry, spi-rit, so-row, hu-ry, etc. 
That such a division looks strange, is merely the result of 
habitual association of final vowels with " long " sounds. 

In actual utterance, all the elements of a word are com- 
pacted together into an unbroken whole : a medial consonant 
is equally final to the preceding vowel, and initial to the 
succeeding one ; so that unless the reader had the skill to 
separate a consonant into two parts — as p into a silent 
closure and an audible separation of the lips — he could not 
phoneticise the syllables, one by one, exactly as he pro- 
nounces them in a word. For this reason, words should 
not be divided when phonetically re-written. All the letters 
in the scheme of " English Phonetic Elements" have 
absolutely determinate sounds, and thei effect is, therefore, 
independent of position. 

The nature of a syllable has already been defined. An 
additional characteristic may be specified : namely, that 
the syllabic sound may have either a closing action of 
the mouth, as in dy, i, oy, ow, ow, or an opening action, as in 
dr, er, or, but that the progression cannot be reversed on a 
single syllabic impulse. On account of this principle, the 
ordinary alphabetic sounds of the letters a and o are not 
pronounced before the letter r, but the vowels are altered 
from the closing diphthongs ay, oiu to the more open sound 



Phonetic Syllabication. 



6 7 



a o, in order to blend syllabically with the r-glide. For the 
same reason, also, the closing elements of the diphthongs 
i, oy, ou, are very imperfectly pronounced before rin order 
to preserve a monosyllabic efTect in such words as hire, coir, 
our. A full formation of the diphthongs renders these 
combinations dissyllabic ; as in higher, coyer, plougher. 

The consonant / has the pure vocality of a vowel ; and 
it is, therefore, capable of being syllabically pronounced 
alone. It is so used in all words ending in le. The nasal 
consonants n and m have, from the same cause, a similar 
capability of forming syllables without vowels ; the syllables 
den, ten, ven, son, ton, being, in many instances, pro- 
nounced merely dn, vn, sn, tn. The letter m in rhythm, 
chasm, etc., is really syllabic, although, in the absence of a 
'vowel letter, the effect is not generally acknowledged. 

The syllabic effect of these consonants may be medial as 
well as final ; as in meddler, which is sometimes pronounced 
med-l-er\ and lightening which is sometimes pronounced 
light-n-ing, to distinguish the word from lightning. The 
organic difference is that, in meddler and lightning the con- 
sonants / and n are only transitionally formed, while, in 
med-l-er, and light-n ing, the consonant positions are "held 
for a separate impulse. 

In common pronunciation a strong tendency is felt to 
omit the vowel in the terminations al, el, il, and pronounce 
fatal, level, cavil, like fatle, levle, cavle. This tendency is 
yielded to in the word devil (devl) — presumably as a mark 
of disrespect; — and in the word victual (vitl), although 
certainly not for the same reason. The word evil is marked 
" evl " in pronouncing dictionaries, but with doubtful pro- 
priety. Wherever custom has not definitely sanctioned the 
elision, the vowels should be sounded in all such syllables. 

Vowel letters are often elided to the eye, when they are 



68 



Phonetic Syllabication. 



not, or should not be, omitted in pronunciation ; as in : 

" By pray'r th' offended Deity t' appease." 
The reason for these elisions lies in their supposed neces- 
sity in the " scanning " of poetic lines ; but the ear recog- 
nizes no necessity for such mutilations, and the rhythm is 
not violated by the full pronunciation of the vowels, as in : 

" By prayer the oifeuded Deity to appease." 



Accent. 



69 



XII. ACCENT. 

Every word of more than one syllable has one of its 
syllables accented, or pronounced heavily, the other sylla- 
bles being relatively light. When the accent is on the 
third, or on any subsequent syllable, a secondary accent 
is usually placed on one of the other syllables, to render 
pronunciation easy, and free from undue rapidity; as in 
" entertain," " contradictory." For the same reason, 
when two or more syllables follow the accent, a tendency 
is felt to relieve a too flippant utterance, by putting a 
secondary accent on one of the enclitic syllables; as in 
"gratitude," "intensify." Care should, however, be taken 
to preserve the proper place of the primary. In American 
usage, this has been usurped by the secondary ; as in such 
words as oratory, territory, where the prevailing pronun- 
ciation, is oratory, territory. 

The following words exemplify the varieties of verbal 
accentuation : 

Accent on the first syllable. Tender, cultivate, ordinary, 
peremptorily. 

Accent on the second syllable. Defend, important, inveter- 
ate, involuntary, unnecessarily. 

Accent on the third syllable. Comprehend, contemplation 
anatomical, inconsiderable, antinomianism. 

Accent on the fourth syllable. Misunderstand 77 , or mis 7 - 
understand 77 , superintendent, superabundantly, mval 7 - 
etu 77 dinary, or in 7 valetu 77 dinary. 

Accent on the fifth syllabce. Personification, anti-pestilen- 
tial, impracticability, indestructibility. 

Accent on the sixth syllable. Intercolumnication, incom- 
municability, incom 7 prehen 7 sibil 77 ity or in 7 comprehen 7 - 
sibil /7 ity. 



7 o 



Accent. 



The same principles of accent are manifest in phraseo- 
logical combinations of words ; and even monosyllables 
are thus accentually tied together. For example : 
Accent on the first word. Help him ; go to him ; look at 

him there. 

Accent on the second word. It is; it was so ; it may be so ; 

it will not be so. 
Accent o?i the third word. That will do ; that will not do ; 

that is just the thing ; that is quite as it should be. 
Accent on the fourth word. You do not need ; that is the 

first point ; that is the whole of it ; this is the next thing 

to be done. 

Accent on the fifth word. I hope we shall hear ; I trust it 
may prove so. 

Accent on the sixth word. Let us wait for the end ; it is not' 

to be thought" of; or, it is' not to be thought" of. 
Accent on the seventh word. That is so far from being true. 



Accent. 



Nouns and verbs of the same orthography are generally- 
distinguished by the position of the accent. In such cases 
the accent is thrown forward for verbs and backward for 
nouns. For example : 



Nouns. 


Verbs. 


Nouns. 


Vevbs. 


abstract 


abstract 7 


ob 7 ject 


object 


ac / cent 


accent 7 


per 7 fume 


perfume' 


at/tribute 


attribute 


pres 7 age 


presage 7 


com / pact 


compact 7 


pres 7 ent 


present 7 


com / pound 


compound 7 


prod 7 uce 


produce 7 


con 7 duct 


conduct 7 


prot 7 est 


protest 7 


cor/flict 


conflict 7 


reb 7 el 


rebel 7 


con 7 test 


contest 7 


rec 7 ord 


record 7 


derail 


detail 7 


ref 7 use 


refuse 7 


des 7 ert 


desert 7 


re 7 tail 


retail 7 


es'say 


essay 7 


subject 


subject 7 


ex / port 


export 7 


sur 7 vey 


survey 7 


ex / tract 


extract 7 


tor 7 ment 


torment 7 


ferment 


ferment 7 


trans 7 fer 


transfer 7 


intense 


incense 7 


trans 7 port 


transport 7 


in'sult 


insult 7 







Compound and other words which have some part in 
common, are accented on the differential part; as in arch- 
bish'op, arch-dea'con, head'la?id, mid' land, woodland, thirteen, 
fourteen, fifteen, trustor' , trustee 1 , mortgagor' , mortgagee' . On 
the same principle, prefixes and terminations which are 
common to large classes of words, are generally without 
accent, except in contrasted words; as when pre' cede is op- 
posed to pro'ceed, dis' satisfied to satisfied, sub'jection to objec- 
tion, principal' to principle' . In the terminations ation, ition, 
ution, the accent is always on the distinctive vowel pre- 
ceding the syllable Hon' ; as in reforma"tion, in' quisi" Hon, 
des'titu"tion. 

The general tendency of accent, in words of more than 
two syllables, is to the antepenultimate syllable, that is, the 



7 2 



Accent. 



third from the end; as in consonant, popular, orator, desti- 
tute. Thus, the accent falls on the syllable immediately 
preceding dissyllabic terminations ; as in sobriety, sociality, 
herbiferous, diagonal, geography, theology, thermometer, vivip- 
arous, omnipotent, iiiicroscopy , philosophy, catastrophe, etc. 

The usual seat of accent in a word has sometimes to be 
shifted to another syllable, to accommodate the rhythm of 
poetry. Thus, the noun increase has to be pronounced 
like the verb increase' in the following passage : 

"As if increase of appetite had grown 

By what, it fed on." 

So, also, the word complete* has to be pronounced complete 
in the line : 

" That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel." 



Emphasis. 



73 



XIII. EMPHASIS. 

Emphasis is to the words of a sentence what accent is to 
the syllables of a word ; it gives prominence by tone, force, 
or some other quality of enunciation, to the word selected 
for superiority in the development of a thought. The 
ordinary accents are not obliterated by emphasis, but 
simply subordinated. 

The various sources of emphasis have been already 
enumerated. [See " Science of Elocution."] In accord- 
ance with these principles of selection the fact should be 
obvious that the most subordinate grammatical word might 
become the seat of the principal emphasis. A striking 
illustration is furnished in the following lines from Words- 
worth's poem "On Re- visiting the Banks of the Wye;" 

"Therefore, am I still 
A lover of the meadows, and the woods, 
And mountains ; and of all that we behold 
From this green earth ; of all the mighty world 
Of eye and ear, — both what they half create, 
And what perceive." 

The emphasising of one little particle in this passage 
opens a floodgate of meaning and introduces a sublime 
conception which might otherwise escape discovery. This 
is the word " from" at the beginning of the fourth line. 
The objects previously mentioned are on the earth ; and the 
contrasting emphasis on from unveils the whole starry 
firmament as included in the poet's thought. 

Of the three sources of emphasis, novelty is the most 
common. The new word is not necessarily pronounced 
with superior force ; it simply forms the starting-point of 
the governing tone in a sentence. Emphasis, due to con- 
trast, unites superior force with a governing tone over allied 



74 



Emphasis. 



words ; and suggestive emphasis, the strongest variety, has 
a distinguishing species of tone which includes in itself the 
contrast it suggests. [See " Tones of Speech."] 

The emphasis of contrast falls necessarily on the second 
of a contrasted pair of words, but not necessarily on the 
first. The first word is emphatic or otherwise, according 
as it is new, or implied in preceding thoughts ; but it is 
not emphatic in virtue of subsequent contrast. A purposed 
anticipation may give emphasis to the first word, but such 
anticipatory emphasis should not be made habitual. Among 
the commonest faults of readers are : the making, of all 
contrasted words emphatic ; and the pronouncing of all 
emphatic words forcibly. 

Combinations of words making up the expression of a 
single thought have the principal accent on the complet- 
ing word, when no principle calls for it elsewhere. Thus : 
" Secretary of State' ; " " Chancellor of the Exche'quer ; " 
" Chief Justice of the Supreme Court' ; " " Member of the 
Cab'inet." When words are contrasted, the accented 
syllables of which are the same, the accent is transferred to 
one of the other syllables in the emphasised word. Thus : 
" Giv'ing is a virtue, but for^giving is a high'er form of 
charity." 

The application of the principles of emphasis may be 
exemplified in the following lines from Beattie's " Hermit." 
This passage is one of the most difficult that could be 
selected for emphasis, because of the little preponderance of 
any of its accented words : 

" At the close of the day — when the hamlet is still, 
And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove ; 

When nought but the torrent is heard, on the hill, 
And nought but the nightingale's song, in the grove : 



Emphasis. 



75 



It was thus, by the cave of the mountain afar, — 

While his harp rung symphonious — a hermit began ; 

No more with himself or with nature at war, 
He thought as a sage, tho' he felt as a man." 

Analysis of the Above. 

"At the close of the day." 

" Close of the day " is equivalent to " night; " and the 
accent is on the completing word of the phrase. All the 
thoughts, to the end of the fourth line, are involved in the 
idea of " close of day ; " and the leading words are merely 
the accented words in sentences which are themselves 
altogether subordinate. Even these, however, illustrate 
the principles of emphatic selection. Thus : 
" When the hamlet is still." 

No word receives prominence here, because stillness of a 
hamlet is a natural concomitant of " close of day." 

"And mortals the sweets of forget'fulness prove." 

" Mortals " belong necessarily to " hamlets," as their 
inhabitants ; " sweets " are involved in the idea of " still- 
ness" after the turmoil of "day." " Forgetfulness " is 
new, and the primarily accented word ; " prove " being 
merely expletive. 

" When nought but the torment is heard on the hill." 

The leading accent is on " torrent ; " because " when 
nought is heard " is involved in the " still hamlet ; " and the 
idea of " hill " is involved in that of " torrent." 

"And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove." 

The leading accent is on " nightingale," because con- 
trasted with " torrent." " When nought is heard " has been 
already stated; and hearing the nightingale implies "song." 
The clause " in the grove " would be accented, as con- 



76 



Emphasis. 



trasted with " on the hill," but that the " nightingale's 
song " is only heard in the sequestered quiet of a " grove." 
" It was thus." 

This is the commencement of the principal sentence. 
" Thus"" is the accented word, because new. 

" By the cave of the moun/tain afar." 
" Cave of the mountain " is practically a compound 
word, and the accent is on the completing part. "Afar " 
is merely expletive. 

" While his harp 7 rung symphonious." 
" While " may be accented or not, ad lib. / " Harp " is 
accented, because new ; " rung symphonious " is subordi- 
nate, because involved in the mention of " harp." 

"A her'mit began." 
This is the principal sentence ; the subject, " hermit," 
is accented, because new ; the predicate " began " is merely 
expletive. 

" No more 7 ." 

This is an adjunct to the predicate " (was) at war ; " the 
accent is on " more," because new, and the completing 
word of the phrase. 

" With himself or with na / ture." 

The leading accent is on " nature," because contrasted 
with " himself." 

"At war'." 

This is the predicate of a principal sentence, new, and 
therefore emphatic. 

"lie thought as a sageV 
Accent on "sage," because "thought" is involved in 
the idea of "at war with himself." 

" Tho' he felt as a man." 
" Tho' " may be accented or not, ad lib.; "felt," is 
emphatic, because contrasted with " thought ; " and 
" man " is emphatic, because contrasted with " sage." 



Rhythm as Affecting Reading. 



77 



XIV. RHYTHM AS AFFECTING READING. 

The accented syllables, in prose, occur at irregular inter- 
vals, and so produce a constantly varying rhythm. In 
poetry, the accents occur at regulated intervals, , so as to 
form " common measure," as in : 

" The shades of night were falling fast : " 
or " triple measure ; " as in 

" At the close of the day when the hamlet is still ; " 
or a mixture of common and triple measures. 

The rhythm of music includes uniformity of time, as well 
as regularity of accent ; and a musical composition is ex- 
actly measurable into bars of equal length, according to 
the standard time adopted by the composer. The rhythm 
of speech differs from that of music, in being dependent on 
accent alone ; and the bars into which prose, as well as 
poetry, may be divided, are not of equal length, and can- 
not be made equal, without doing violence to the sense, 
and creating an offensive jingling or sing-song. 

The attempts which have been made to arrange poetry 
and prose into bars of equivalent duration need only to be 
illustrated to be condemned. The following specimens are 
quoted from a work of respectable authorship. 

[The mark i denotes a rest or pause to make up a de- 
fective measure.] 

"1 At the | close of the | day, | "1 when the | hamlet is | still, J 
1 And | mortals | "1 the | sweets of for | getfulness | prove, | 
"1 When | nought but the | torrent j *1 is | heard on the | hill, | 
"1 And | nought but the | nightingale's | song | "| in the | grove : | 
1 It was | thus, | 1 by the | cave of the | mountain a | far, | 
T While his | harp rung sym | phonious, | *| a | hermit be | gan ; 
"1 No | more with him | self, | "1 or with | nature at | war, | 
1 He | thought as a | sage | 1 tho' he { felt as a | man. | " 



78 Rhythm as Affecting Reading. 



II. 

" Then A | grippa | said unto | Paul, | | Thou art per | mitted 
to I speak for thy | self. | | Then | Paul j stretched forth the ) hand, | 
1 and I answered | *1 for him | self, j | 1 I | think myself | happy. \ 
I King A I grippa, | *1 be | cause I shall | answer for my j self | this | 
day I "1 be I fore | thee, j touching | all the | things J 1 where | of j TI 
am ac | cused | 1 of the Jews : | | wherefore | "1 I be | seech thee | 1 
to I hear me | patiently. | " 

The bars which mark the measures of time in the above 
illustrations violate the logical principles on which words 
are separated or joined together in reading Articles and 
prepositions should, clearly, be connected with the words 
to which they refer, as making up the expression of a single 
thought ; but the ill-timed junctions and divisions indicated 
by these bars, bring together parts of two distinct thoughts, 
and separate parts of one'distinct thought, in utter disre- 
gard of sense ; as in : 

" I close of the | hamlet is | sweets of for- | 
I harp rung sym- | hermit be | thou art per- | 
I speak for thy- | stretched forth the j 
I -cause I shall | answer for my | " etc. 

These unnatural divisions apparently result from the 
adoption of the principle of musical notation which requires 
that the first note of every bar shall be the accented part 
of the measure. This principle, no doubt essential to a 
concerted marking of time among players, is not consistent 
with the accentual variety of speech. A beat implies an 
upward movement before the downward stroke; and a 
large proportion of words commence with unaccented 
syllables. A bar in speech-notation may, therefore, begin 
with a light, as readily as with a heavy syllable, according 
to the position of the accent. 



Rhythm as Affecting Reading. 79 

The fundamental principle which regulates the collocation 
of words in sentences is, that no two words should be united 
which have not a mutual relation in forming sense ; and 
that no two such words should be separated. In this way 
the words of a sentence fall into grammatical or logical 
groups, the individual words composing which are, as it 
were, syllables in the "oratorical word" formed by the 
whole group. These oratorical words have accents, among 
their component syllabic words, just as ordinary words have 
among their syllables ; and the oratorical words themselves 
are subject to a higher species of accent, called emphasis, 
which throws into prominence the leading thought in a 
sentence. [See "Emphasis."] 

Reading in accordance with this principle has a music of 
its own ; a varying time and force, adapting sound to sense, 
and to the natural expression of all moods and passions. 
It is, moreover, perfectly conservative of poetic measures ; 
only it gives predominance to sense and sentiment; whereas 
these, in the passages quoted above, are subordinated to 
fixed musical accents, and recurrent bars of equal time. 

Perhaps the best mode of showing the difference in the 
results of the two methods of reading will be to mark the 
same passages with the divisions of logical expression. The 
minor grammatical groups are indicated by a hyphen (-), 
and the major divisions of the sentences by a vertical line 
( I ). The former is equivalent to a slight hiatus ; and the 
latter to a pause. 

i.* 

" At the close - of the day, | when the hamlet - is still, | 
And mortals | the sweets - of forgetfulness - prove, | 
When nought - but the torrent | is heard -on the hill, | 
And nought - but the nightingale's song | in the grove : [ 

*See these passages under the head of " Emphasis." 



8o Rhythm as Affecting Reading. 



It was thus, | by the cave - of the mountain - afar, | 
While his harp - rung symphonious, | a hermit - began ; | 
No more | with himself, - or with nature | at war, | 
He thought - as a sage | tho' he felt - as a man." 

II. 

"Then | Agrippa | said -unto Paul, | Thou art permitted - to speak - 
for thyself. | | Then | Paul - stretched forth the hand, | and an- 
svvered-for himself: | | I think myself - happy, | King Agrippa, | 
because - 1 shall answer -for myself - this day | before thee | touching - 
all the things | whereof - 1 am accused - of the Jews : j wherefore | I 
beseech thee - to hear me - patiently." 

The essential parts of a sentence are its subject and its 
predicate. These express two distinct thoughts, and should 
always be separately pronounced, except when either of 
them is unemphatic. A sentence may, besides, include 
complemental or circumstantial adjuncts (expressive of 
hoiv, why, when, where, etc.) and connectives. Comple- 
mental clauses are united to the principal member to which 
they refer, when there is no intervening word, as in " cave 
of the mountain " ; and circumstantial adjuncts are sepa- 
rated from the principal member — like parentheses — and 
also from each other, as distinct thoughts. Connectives 
may couple individual words or clauses, or may join sen- 
tences. In the former case, they are united to the word or 
clause which they connect in sense — when there is no in- 
tervening word ; but, in the latter case, connectives gene- 
rally stand apart, to show that they do not connect merely 
the proximate words. 

Another relation between words, important although 
only occasional, is that between governing and depend- 
ent words. This relation is of so close a nature that it 
will even separate grammatically related words. Thus, we 
unite adjective and noun, as in "a good man"; but we 



Rhythm as Affecting Reading. Si 



separate them when the noun becomes a governing word, 
as in "a good man of business." We unite verb and adverb, 
as in " submit wisely," but we separate them when the ad- 
verb governs another word; as in "submit wisely and 
cheerfully." We unite verb and pronoun, as in "we for- 
give them ; " but we separate the words when the pronoun 
becomes the antecedent to a relative ; as in " we forgive 
them that trespass." 

Adverbs are often so placed in composition that they 
may be read either in connection with what precedes or 
with what follows, of course, making correct sense only in 
one way ; ^as in : 

"repealed and execrated even by parliaments which," etc. 

In the absence of punctuation, which would here serve 
its proper office, this may mean either, " execrated even," 
or " even by parliaments." In such cases, the adverb may 
be said to squint, and the reader has to exercise judgement 
to make the word look definitely in one direction. 

The laws of logical reading, as outlined above, apply to 
all compositions, poetical as well as prosaic ; and no reader 
of taste and judgement would consent to the sacrifice of such 
intellectual principles, for the sake of a tuneful division of 
his sentences into measures of equal time. 

The poetical passage, quoted already, is one of the most 
complex in grammatical structure that could be selected ; 
its analysis will therefore be instructive. 



6 



82 



Rhythm as Affecting Reading. 



[Words in brackets are implied. The numbers indicate : 
(i) Principal sentence. (2) Primary adjunct. (3) Second- 
ary adjunct. (4) Subordinate adjunct. (5) Connective.] 

It was thus (1) 

[that] 
A hermit (1) 

_J . 

I By the cave of the mountain (2) 

|afar (3) 

|while his harp rung symphonious (2) 
Began (1) 



: the close of the day (2) 



when the hamlet is still (3) 
and ( 5) 

[when] mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove (3) 
when nought but the torrent is heard (3) 

Ion the hill (4) 

and (5) 

[when] nought but the nightingale's song [is heard] (3) 

|in the grove (4) 

|No more (2) 
\ 

[He was] at war (1 



Jwith himself or with nature (2) 
He thought (1) 

|as a sage (2) 
tho' (5) 
He felt (i) 

J 

|as a man (2). 



Rhyme an Affecting Pronunciation. 83 

XV. RHYME AS AFFECTING PRONUNCIATION. 

English syllables present so many anomalies of pronunci- 
ation that the spelling is rarely a sure guide to the sound, 
Even syllables of the very same orthography have different 
sounds ; as scant and want ; far and war j bead and bread ; 
spear and pear ; earth and hearth ; mint and pint ; zone, 
gone and do?ie ; good and blood; door and poor ; love, strove 
and prove ; now and know ; dull and pull, etc. 

Such words, although lacking the quality of assonance, 
are freely used as rhymes by all our poets. Ought a reader 
to be influenced by the poet's licence ; and would he be 
justified in changing pronunciation for the sake of rhyme ? 
Certainly not ; because to change the sound is to change 
the word, and so to change the thought. The reader's duty 
is to present the intended word in its ordinary form to the 
ear, and leave the poet to be responsible for his failure to 
match the sounds. 

The word wind (noun) is often confounded in sound with 
the verb of the same orthography (to wind). The chief 
cause of the confusion is, no doubt, the frequent use of the 
noun as a rhyme for find, mi?id, blind, etc. ; but the reader 
should no more feel called on to pronounce wind to match 
with mind, than to change good to match with blood, or move 
to match with love. 

The noun wind is, indeed, constantly pronounced wind 
by many persons. This is the usual pronunciation of the 
word in Ireland ; but the vowel distinction between the verb 
and the noun is generally preserved by the best speakers 
elsewhere. Those who prefer to speak of the wind instead 
of the wind should maintain that pronunciation equally 
when the word is used to rhyme with sinned or dinned, as 
with mind or kind. 



84 Rhyme as Affecting Pronunciation. 

The sound is the word ; and the importance of preserv- 
ing the true sound, in spite of the vagaries of rhyme, will 
be manifested by a few examples of rhymes taken at ran- 
dom from leading poets : 

Byron rhymes misery with thee ; flow with now ; void 
with wide ; soil with pile ; a77iong with along; wand with 
hand; do77ie with come ; etc. 

Campbell rhymes Achaians with defiance; heroes with 
revere us ; ocean with emotion ; far with war ; torn with scorn ; 
one with clan ; path with wrath; deplores with moors; etc. 

Cowper rhymes unknown with gone ; too with crow ; 
rather with weather ; tongues with wrongs ; leads (v) with 
treads ; last with unchaste ; wear with appear; afford with 
word; etc. 

Hemans rhymes victory with j^y; ^w<? with and 
with home; blood with stood ; lord with sword ; won with 0;* ; 
rifca//; with wreath ; etc. 

Longfellow rhymes with wrath ; glow with ; 

/tfWf.s - with groves ; hoarded with recorded ; corn with /aw;/ ; 
with swamp ; togethe'r with father ; bosom with £/<w- 
; etc. 

Pope rhymes ^/<?0*/ with food; heaven with given; 7101a 
with /£;z<?w ; £w/z<? with /^;;/<? ; co7npa7iy with i - /^ ; with 
abodes ; refer with /^r<f ; with ; ought with jfo//// ; 

joined mind ; etc. 

Scott rhymes (v) with /wc/ ; jfow* with ; on with 
^?;2<? ; statiwe with nature ; stone with ; zewdf with 
sword ; poor with door ; sat with state , head with ftftZdfc ; etc. 

Shelley rhymes //^tfr/ with wert ; ove7'flowed with /<?//v/,' 
w^i" with^mw; 7<vtf/// with cha7it ; 7/ow with floia ; won it 
with 0« zV; wa7id with laud; human with common ; etc. 

Tennyson rhymes /vw with ///wr ; £-<?^/ with blood; ever 
with 7-iver ; peace with disease; fool with j/////; /<?z^ with 



Rhyme as Affecting Pronunciation. 85 

prove; mist with Christ; quay with to-day ; house with 
boughs ; doors with powers ; etc. 

Wordsworth rhymes kind with joined ; love with approve ; 
gone with none ; come with home and with dfo<?/?z / tongue 
with wrong; one with rfiftf and with shone; wan with 
; etc. 

These illustrations, which might be multiplied to any 
extent, prove that imperfect rhymes, and rhymes to the eye 
only, are so common as to be no subject of reproach to 
writers. Readers, therefore, should leave the inaccordance 
of sound as they find it ; they can only be reproached, 
when they fail to make the sound true to the intended 
sense. 



Expressive Speech. 



87 



XVI. EXPRESSIVE SPEECH. 
Changes of vocal pitch, of force, and of time are essen- 
tial to the effective delivery of language. A change of 
some kind is required within almost every sentence. Every 
new subject, or new division of a subject, every change in 
the form of composition, every fluctuation of sentiment, 
should have its appropriate variation of pitch. But uni- 
formity of change is to be avoided ; judgment, not habit, 
must direct variety. Many readers commence all their 
paragraphs in prose, or their stanzas in poetry, with an 
elevation of key, and gradually lower the voice throughout 
the section ; but this is irrational. The principle which 
dictates change requires that every change be regulated by 
the nature of the transition: as from fact to inference, 
from cause to effect, from general to particular, etc. ; and 
the judicious reader will thus, perhaps, as frequently, mod- 
ulate his voice to a lower, as to a higher key. 

All varieties of vocal pitch may be used in connection 
with any degree of force or intensity. Thus a high tone 
may be feeble, a low tone may be strong, and vice versa. 
Force is to delivery what light and shade are to painting ; 
and tonic modulation is to force what colour is to light and 
shade. A very effective picture may be made by means 
of light and shade only, but colour must be added if we 
would reproduce things as we see them. A very effective 
performance may be rapped out on a drum, but modulating 
instruments are necessary to produce the full effect of 
music. The delivery of some speakers is like the music of 
the drum, all in one key ; and of others like a picture fin- 
ished in colours, but flat and unnatural for want of light 
and shade. The effervescence and subsidence of passion 



88 



Expressive Speech. 



are finely analogised by gradations of force, while equality 
is nerveless and unsympathetic. Eagerness and apathy, 
alarm and security, cautious fear and bold adventure, resig 
nation and despair, delight and sadness, anger and placid- 
ity, all associate with their utterance an appropriate meas- 
ure of feebleness or intensity. 

Variations in the rate of utterance form another means 
of high effectiveness in reading and speaking. From the 
medium steady rate of ordinary narrative, the pace quickens 
with animation and excitement, and becomes impulsive and 
hurried in passion ; in meditation the movement is slow 
and lingering, and in solemnity and awe it is retarded to 
detached and measured footfalls. Rosalind tells her lover 
in "As You Like It" that : 

"Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. I'll tell you," 
she says, " who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time 
gallops withal, and who he stands still withal. 

" I pr'ythee," asks Orlando, "who doth he trot withal? 
With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the 
gout ; for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study ; and the other 
lives merrily because he feels no pain. 

" Who doth he gallop withal ? 

" With a thief to the gallows ; for though he go as softly as foot can 
fall, he thinks himself too soon there. 
"Who stays it still withal ? 

" With lawyers in the vacation ; for they sleep between term and 
term, and then they perceive not how time moves." 

Rosalind's divisions have their vocal and oratorical 
analogues. Unconcern plods along at a leisurely walk ; 
eagerness converts the pace into a trot ; enjoyment glides 
from accent to accent in an easy, oscillating amble ; appre- 
hension hurries nervously to its breathing points in a palpi- 
tating gallop ; and egotistic pomposity hums and haws and 
drawls, in soporific heedlessness of the lapse of time. 



Expressive Speech. 



So 



Pauses constitute an important means of expressiveness ; 
and they are also real elements of poetic lines. On account 
of the frequency and variety of pauses, delivery, whether 
of prose or poetry, is not subject to the measurement of 
synchronous pulsations. Impassioned utterance cannot be 
rhythmical. Its words must come as fitfully as its moods. 
It abhors rhythm as freedom abhors fetters, and bursts from 
the restraint. Rhythm, notwithstanding its occasional 
importance, is a quality which a good reader will carefully 
keep in subordination. The author of the " Prosodia 
Rationalis " (Dr. Joshua Steele) has shown the possibility of 
measuring poetry by bars, in strict accordance with the 
sense, when the necessary pauses are reckoned as parts of the 
measure; and he has also shown the unfitness of the ordinary 
mode of "scanning," which has no reference to the rests 
that alone can harmonise sense and rhythm. Poets write 
by the "rule of thumb;" so many syllables make up a 
line ; and if the lines are of equal length, they pass as 
" rhythmical," although they do not at all correspond in 
the number of their necessary accentual impulses. Poetry 
cannot be read by the rule of thumb, without destroying 
its highest intellectual qualities. 

Prose composition is measurable into bars, in the same 
way as poetry ; and met'rical | rea'ders | of prose' | allow' 
you | to hear' | the click' | of the pen'dulum | at ev'ery | 
swing' | of the voice'. | This sort of clock-work pronunci- 
ation is, unfortunately, too common. It is very effective — 
in producing sleep ! This is the only benefit the hearer 
derives from it ; but to the speaker it certainly gives the 
advantage of unlimited volubility without the trouble of 
thinking. Words of some kind will always come to keep 
the pendulum swinging, but it must not stop : " My lords," 
" Mr. Speaker," " Fellow citizens," " Beloved brethren," or 



9° 



Expressive Speech. 



u Gentlemen of the jury " will do duty for the hundredth 
time, and the sound will go on and on, on any theme, for 
any length of time. The rising of such a speaker in the 
House of Commons is like the sounding of the dinner bell; 
an actor who so jingled his words would not be tolerated on 
any stage ; and wherever material interests are to be served, 
such an orator would be the last to be invited to the plat- 
form. 

When a measured pronunciation is introduced to serve 
an appropriate purpose, it is highly effective. The error is 
in being always rhythmical. A good speaker will constantly 
adapt his manner to his subject, and "be all things" to all 
kinds of sentiment ; but he cannot be always any one thing 
without offending judgement, propriety and taste. The 
expression of uniform motion is sometimes the principal 
aim of a composition ; as in Hood's " Song of the Shirt," 
where the rhythm of the never stopping " Stitch, stitch, 
stitch," and " Work, work, work " should be preserved as 
much as possible in every stanza. So, too, in Poe's poem 
of " The Bells," the recurrent jingle of the sleigh bells, the 
music of the joy-peal, the clang of the alarum bell, and the 
solemn boom of the death-knell are to be analogised in the 
rhythm of the several sections. 

Every quality of utterance that would be a defect, if 
habitual, may be an excellence under appropriate circum- 
stances. Whisper, hoarseness, panting respiration, tremu- 
lous voice, and every other functional affection, may find 
occasion for their manifestation in expressive delivery. 
Tremor, especially, is a source of fine and varied effective- 
ness, intensifying alike the utterances of joy and sorrow. 
The fact is a very curious one — which Dr. Rush was the 
first to point out in his " Philosophy of the Human Voice," 
— that laughter and crying express themselves by the same 



Expressive Speech. 



91 



organic action, the only difference being that the intervals 
between the vocal tones are of the major kind in laughter, 
and of the minor kind in crying. It is the same with the 
more delicate varieties of tremor: a quiver of the voice 
may express the most opposite sentiments, from sympathetic 
tenderness to contemptuous sneering. 

Even descriptive language, to be naturally delivered, 
should be accompanied by a degree of sentimental ex- 
pressiveness. Reading is thus more than the mere pro- 
nunciation of words ; it must be sentient utterance ; showing 
how the reader is affected by the incidents he describes, and 
conveying in his tones an emotional comment on every 
statement. Otherwise, reading is mechanical only, and 
lifeless. 



Action. 



93 



XVII. ACTION. 

There are three distinct languages, in all of which the 
speaker has simultaneously to deliver himself : the language 
of speech, the language of tone, and the language of action. 
The most far-reaching of these is the language of action ; 
the most limited in the sphere of its influence is the lan- 
guage of speech. This is artificial; the others are natural. 
Each of these languages is mighty within its own province, 
but, when the influences of all are effectively combined, 
their power is irresistible. It is the speaker's fault when 
the attention of his audience flags, when his words are ab- 
sorbed in the rustlings and shufflings of uninterested hear- 
ers. The trident of oratory can command attention, even 
from the listless, and still the vexatious murmurs of uncon- 
cern. A flash from one of nature's batteries, a look, a 
tone, a movement of the hand, a pause in the current of 
sound, will arouse the dull and arrest the wandering mind. 
There is no other such power in nature as that which the 
consummate orator wields, alike over sense and soul. 

The tendency to gesticulate is so natural that the most 
difficult thing in oratory is to refrain from motion. If 
speakers could stand still they would, at least, not offend : 
they would simply fall short of the effect which appropriate 
action would add to their delivery. But, as a general 
rule, they neither use action nor let it alone. They shift 
and fumble, and move to no purpose. They are not dumb 
where they might be eloquent ; but they hum and haw in 
motion, and fidget the eye with constrained and unneces- 
sary transitions. Gesture is a language, and although it 
may be foreign to our temperament to use it with volubility 
or with emphasis, we should still, in however limited a 
degree, employ it as a language. 



94 



Action. 



The object of action in connection with speech is not 
to communicate thought, but to express earnestness, and 
full possession by the thought or sentiment conveyed by 
words. Action is wasted in merely painting the purport of 
the accompanying language. This fault is very common. 
Indeed, the idea which speakers seem generally to enter- 
tain of the office of gesticulation is, precisely, this superflu- 
ous one of verbal corroboration. A thoughtless interpre- 
tation of the maxim " suit the action to the word " appears 
to justify this error ; but " to the word " does not mean to 
the grammatical word, but to the language — to the whole 
utterance. Imitative action, so far from being suitable to 
language, is only appropriate in ridicule and mimicry. The 
hearer's understanding is insulted when action is converted 
into a dictionary. 

The scope of action is circumscribed in many cases. At 
the Bar, for instance, the proximity of speaker and hearer 
confines gesture almost to the colloquial style, in which 
the hand is the principal agent. But the eye is not silent. 
It holds the juror, as the Ancient Mariner held the wedding 
guest, and " he cannot choose but hear." In the pulpit, 
the orator has a wider field for action, as the arm, the 
" oratorical weapon," may be fully unfolded, and the audi- 
tors are dispersed over a greater area. But the freedom of 
the lower limbs is wanting to produce the full effect of 
corporeal expression. On the platform, the speaker's 
power is extended, and the whole person contributes to 
expressiveness : — only the influence of change of position 
is limited. On the stage, there is no limit ; the suggestive 
rhythm of free movement, added to the other powers in 
their highest degree, completes the measureless possibilities 
of dramatic art. Unfortunately, the stage can seldom be 
referred to for models ; but if a player can, as a general 



Action. 



95 



rule, exhibit a mechanical delivery which is free from offen- 
sive blemishes, why should not every public speaker be 
equally cultivated in this respect ? Defects are the badge 
of negligence only, and, therefore, removable by proper 
study. 

Some persons may be apt to think that such "small mat- 
ters " as constitute the bulk of the principles in this volume 
are unworthy of attention, because the mind of the speaker 
cannot occupy itself with them in delivery ; but one who 
is duly informed on such points, and who has made their 
application habitual, does not require to think of them at 
all. Of the two proverbial ways of doing everything — a 
right and a wrong way — the one is generally quite as easy 
as the other ; so that excellences come to be performed as 
unconsciously as faults are committed. When we read all 
the minutenesses which Quintilian recommends to form 
an accomplished speaker, and compare the effects pro- 
duced by oratory in our own day with the recorded influ- 
ence of the artistic orators of ancient Greece and Rome, 
we have good ground for suspecting that a want of at- 
tention to these minutenesses may be, in reality, the chief 
reason for the difference. He who cannot condescend to 
" small matters " in preparation will never be great in 
achievement; for nothing is trivial in which principle is 
involved. 



Class Characteristics of Delivery. 97 



XVIII. CLASS CHARACTERISTICS OF DE- 
LIVERY. 

With reference to the characteristics of delivery appro- 
priate to different classes of speakers, a few observations 
may not be superfluous. 

A lawyer's or a merchant's clerk reading a conveyance 
or an invoice, for the purpose of comparison with a dupli- 
cate, will do all that is requisite if his pronunciation is dis- 
tinct, and his voice free from any offensive quality. He is 
not expected to comment on what he reads, by tone or 
emphasis. His function is purely mechanical ; and he 
does not require even to appreciate the sense, if he but 
deliver the words intelligibly. 

A lecturer must add to this a perfect acquaintance with 
the sense, and vocal ability to communicate it without ambi- 
guity ; together with such an amount of adaptability of 
manner as may secure the attention and interest of his 
hearers. He does not require a high degree of eloquence ; 
his gesture may be of the simplest kind, and he will be 
most effective when he is most familiar and conversational 
in style. 

A platform speaker demands larger powers of oratory. 
His audience is a mixed one, and more impressible by dec- 
lamation. He must present himself and his subject in a 
pleasing manner, and use every art to convert his hearers 
into his partisans. His pictures must be strongly painted 
to be seen at a distance ; his voice must, therefore, be vig- 
orous and his action animated. He must sometimes tickle 
the unwilling ear to listen, and flatter by a show of defer- 
ence in order to gain authority. If he can amuse by anec- 
.dote and charm by grace, his power will be established; 



7 



Class Characteristics of Delivery. 



but he must never weary by monotony, or repel by pedant- 
ry, or offend by awkwardness. He is a volunteer, and a 
champion of the cause he espouses, and he will be par- 
doned for excess of zeal, but not for lack of spirit. 

A parliamentary or congressional speaker has a double 
field of oratory — in the electioneering campaign, and in 
the House. The requirements of the two are so different 
that he is often a speaker of great promise in the one but 
of little performance in the other. To the ordinary quali- 
fications of the platform orator he must add an unwavering 
confidence in the triumph of his principles and in the defeat 
of his honourable opponents. He must, at all times, pre- 
serve the dignity beseeming a legislator, and represent his 
own election as a matter in which far higher than personal 
interests are at stake. His enlightened constituents must 
be made to feel that, in voting for him, they are performing 
an act of far-sighted wisdom, with which he duly credits 
them beforehand. He must bait his hooks with intel- 
lectual flattery, and, like a cunning angler, keep himself out 
of sight. He is a man of principle — an embodiment of 
the sentiments of those whose suffrages he solicits; and 
the honour which he most covets is not so much the position 
of a legislator, as the distinction of being the representa- 
tive of these sentiments, and of such constituents, as those 
whom he has the honour to address. This is the key-note 
of electioneering speech. 

In the House a totally different style is requisite to estab- 
lish an intro-mural reputation, and to influence the decisions 
of the " ayes and noes." Here, the speaker stands on a 
level with his equals, man to man, shoulder to 
shoulder, face to face ; and it can only be by the force of 
some real excellence, either of matter or of manner, that 
he can so much as obtain a hearing. His auditors know 



Class Characteristics of Delivery. 99 

the ad captandum arts of declamation, and will not tolerate 
them on themselves. The importance of refinement of 
manner is, however, nowhere more manifest than in the 
legislative chamber. Honourable members have a keen eye 
for a good model, and they will listen to a speaker for the 
sake of his delivery, as readily as for the sake of his infor- 
mation. Simplicity, unobtrusive grace, natural fervour, are 
qualities which never present themselves in vain ; while 
rant and ostentation might roar themselves hoarse amid 
the noises of impatience — or display their impotence to 
empty benches. But many of the orations delivered to 
" Mr. Speaker" or " Mr. Chairman " are really addressed 
to an audience beyond the walls ; the performance is a 
rehearsal, and the true delivery is made by the newspapers. 

The barrister has, perhaps, the most enviable of all fields 
for the display of oratorical ability. He has scope for the 
most unlimited versatility as he alternately wrangles with a 
learned brother ; submits a point in law, o ran explanatory 
hypothesis to the court ; breaks down a witness in cross- 
examination ; or appeals to the discernment, or the preju- 
dices, or the sympathies of the jury. Manner is all-impor- 
tant in forensic oratory. But a high standard of effective- 
ness is secured by the fact that success is highly and cer- 
tainly rewarded, and that incompetency is as certainly 
unpatronised. The measure of ability is the measure of 
profitable employment. 

The pulpit orator has not less scope for excellence in 
manner ; and his incitements to effectiveness must be ranked 
above those of any other class of public speakers. There 
are material prizes in the church, as at the bar, although 
they are not always impartially distributed, and merit may 
strive in vain to reach the highest spheres of influence ; 
but the good preacher does not profess to look to these for 



ioo Class Characteristics of Delivery. 

his reward. He covets the approbation to which the earn- 
ing of a mitre would furnish no additional claim. The 
clergyman's manner must be manifold : reverential and 
humble in prayer ; anxious and impressive in instruction 
uncompromising with error ; authoritative in rebuke ; affec- 
tionate and deeply earnest in persuasion. These qualities 
are, no doubt, the spontaneous growth of nature ; but tares 
are apt to spring among the wheat, and gardens to be over- 
run with weeds ; so the natural proprieties of delivery may 
become mixed with improprieties and derogatory charac- 
teristics, unless the hand of art betimes root out the evil 
and cultivate the good. 

A comparison has been often made between the tame 
delivery of the Pulpit and the impassioned utterance of the 
Stage. The preacher has been said to pronounce truth as 
though it were fiction, and the player to deliver fiction as 
if it were truth. There is, often, too good ground for the 
reproach ; and it cannot be too frequently repeated, until 
the preacher's office is honoured by the due preparation for 
effectiveness, which it demands from all who consider its 
relations to the highest interest of mankind. 

The delivery of the Stage is entirely distinct from every 
other species. The orator in other departments stands 
forth in his own person; his utterances carry with them 
the weight of his individual or official authority, and they 
are subject to all the disparagements that can accrue from 
unfavourable circumstances. Not so with the actor. He 
leaves his individuality with his out-of-door habiliments in 
the dressing-room, and lends his animating principle to the 
dress which moves behind the footlights ; the voice and 
manner which we hear and see are not those of the inner 
man, but of the animated costume; and, just in proportion 
as the actor is lost sight of, and the creation of his art ap- 



Class Characteristics of Delivery. ioi 

pears endowed with an independent natural life, is his per- 
formance successful and meritorious. The breast that bears 
the royal robes may be humble and dejected ; the head that 
carries the calm judicial wig may be perturbed and anxious ; 
the limbs that move the bloated and pampered presentment 
may be lean and shrunken ; the villainy which stamps and 
fulminates may hide a heart of Christian tenderness; the 
mirth which sets the audience in a roar may cover an agony 
of private sorrow. Yet, what the actor does should be, in 
some measure, done by every speaker; he should be so ab- 
sorbed in his subject as to lose sight of self — and make 
his hearers do so — in the cause which he advocates. This 
grand quality of all delivery may be expressed in one 
word — earnestness. Without this, neither the assumptions 
of the player, nor the realities of the preacher, the poli- 
tician, or the pleader, can effect their purpose, or overcome 
the vis inertia of indifference. Earnestness will cover a 
multitude of faults, but all the graces of eloquence will not 
atone for its absence. Earnestness and propriety combined 
carry all fcefore them. These are the true elements of 
Elocution. 



Defects and Impediments of Speech. 103 



XIX. DEFECTS AND IMPEDIMENTS OF SPEECH. 

ORGANIC DEFECTS. 

Defects of speech of various kinds are common, but 
defects arising from organic malformation are comparatively 
rare. Tonsils abnormally large affect the quality of the 
voice, but seldom create impediment to utterance. The 
voice is, as it were, smothered within the pharynx, and can- 
not be thrown forward without great effort. The air is 
also prevented from access to the inner cavities of the ear, 
and by this means the hearing is impaired. Relaxation of 
the soft-palate, or elongation of the uvula, has a similar 
effect in preventing free emission of the voice. Enlarge- 
ment of the tongue renders articulation difficult and indis- 
tinct. Encroachment by the teeth on the hollow of the 
jaw, as by a double row of teeth, prevents the free motion 
of the tongue. A retreating or a protruding jaw, by pre- 
venting the lower teeth from being brought into line with 
the upper teeth, causes some slight peculiarity of pronunci- 
ation, affecting, chiefly, the labial consonants, in the first 
case, and the sound of s in the second case. Dispropor- 
tionate height of the back teeth, by preventing a sufficiently 
close approximation of the front ranges, also affects the 
sound of s in the same way. The close attachment of the 
point of the tongue to the bed of the jaw compels the for- 
mation of /, d, n, /, r, by the top instead of the point of 
the tongue, and gives the quality known as " thickness" to 
utterance. 

A highly arched or pointed palate also prevents the easy 
normal formation of lingual consonants. The difficulty 
experienced from this cause, by children, may often have 
had an unsuspected influence in the development of serious 
impediments of speech. An unusually high palate is 



104 Defects and Impediments of Speech. 

noticeable in a large proportion of stammerers, and the 
adverse effect of such a formation can be accounted for in 
no other way, than by its supposed influence in the for- 
mation of early habits. 

When the lips are heavy, so that they cannot be easily 
separated at the corners, the sound of the voice is muffled, 
as if it came through a trumpet, and all the vowels are 
coloured with " round " quality. 

A divided upper lip, or " hare-lip," merely affects the 
labial consonants, unless, as is very often the case, the 
division extends to the palate, when the whole of speech 
is affected. The fissure in the palate opens into the nasal 
channel, and when the mouth-passage is closed — as for p 9 /, 
etc., — the breath cannot be shut in behind the articulating 
organs, but escapes through the nose. The natural per- 
cussiveness of /, k, etc., impossible under the circum- 
stances, is instinctively imitated by a percussive opening of 
the glottis ; and all the continuous consonants, as also all 
the vowels, are nasalised. 

Educational assistance can do little, in cases of organic 
defect, until the physical causes of the defect are removed. 
The fraenum which binds the tongue can be loosened, so 
as to enable the tip to rise freely to the palate ; and the 
fissure in the palate can be covered by a gold plate, by means 
of which the power of perfect articulation can be acquired. 

stuttering. 

Involuntary actions of the organs of respiration and 
articulation constitute impediments of speech. In one 
variety — called stuttering — the throat-sounds or vowels, 
fail to follow on the completion of the mouth-actions, or 
consonants, and the latter are repeated again and again 
before an entire syllable can be uttered. Sometimes the 



Defects and Impediments of Speech. 105 



vowels are, in the same way, commenced a number of times 
before a steady emission of the voice can be obtained. 

The cure for stuttering lies in the cultivation of a reso- 
nant quality and full volume of voice ; and of a light, un- 
compressive action of the lips and tongue, in forming 
consonants. The force of syllables must be thrown on 
the vowel elements, and consonants treated as mouth- 
actions, and nothing more. A slow and rhythmical utter- 
ance is of assistance in overcoming the habit of stuttering ; 
but the main point is to establish the proper relation between ■ 
vowels and consonants. The stutterer tries to speak with 
the month; he must learn to speak through the mouth, and 
from the throat. The mouth, so far as speech is concerned, 
is only a variable tube through which throat-sounds are 
emitted, and moulded in their emission ; and the mouth- tube 
must remain as nearly as possible passive in the act of 
speech. 

STAMMERING. 

In the impediment called stammering, or spasmodic hesi- 
tation, the vocalising part of the apparatus of speech is 
deranged. The action of the diaphragm is reversed, and 
breath is inhaled during efforts to articulate ; or the aper- 
ture of the throat closes — and so prevents the formation 
of voice — while the diaphragm makes efforts to expel the 
breath. 

The diaphragm and the glottis are often spasmodically 
affected, and a period of silent straining precedes the choking 
utterance. The muscles of the neck are swelled, the head 
is rolled backwards, the eyeballs are protruded, the face is 
suffused, and sometimes the whole body is violently con- 
vulsed before relief is obtained in the emission of the 
breath. 



106 Defects and Impediments of Speech. 

These painful manifestations generally subside, as if by 
magic, when the proper action of the diaphragm in respira- 
tion is explained and brought into experimental use; and 
the stammerer is sometimes led to believe himself cured in 
a single lesson. But the difficulty is not so easily over- 
come. When the first transport of sudden relief subsides, 
the old series of actions reasserts its dominion, and the 
stammerer relapses. His impediment is now intensified by 
disappointment ; and, unless he possesses a rare amount of 
perseverance and hope, he fails to recover his lost ground, 
or to profit by the principles he has learned theoretically. 

The only radical cure is to be obtained by careful exer- 
cise on the elements of speech, and practice of reading 
and speaking under competent supervision. The " tube 
principle " of relation of mouth to throat, as explained 
above, must be thoroughly apprehended, and practically 
applied until a new habit displaces the old one. A feeling 
of confidence will grow out of a clear perception of the 
cause of former failures, and a happy experience of suc- 
cess ; but the stammerer may think himself fortunate if he 
can surmount his difficulties, and also the fear associated 
with them, by two or three months of persistent effort. 

The fear connected with stammering is one of the most 
perplexing features of the impediment. The worst stam- 
merer will assure you that, when alone, he speaks and reads 
with perfect fluency; but that, if he thinks he can be over- 
heard, or if a child, or even an animal, is in the room, he 
becomes powerless. This fear is only associated with 
speech ; for the stammerer is rarely nervous constitutionally. 
The natural conclusion is, that the nervousness of stam- 
merers is the result, and not — as commonly supposed — 
the cause, of the impediment. 



Defects and Impediments of Speech. 107 

Sometimes a comparatively long period elapses before 
the dread of all associated difficulties is entirely conquered. 
A gentleman who had been in the habit, all his life, of 
stammering frightfully on the name of an adjoining prop- 
erty to his own, failed on that one word, for months after 
he had no other remaining difficulty. Ultimately, however, 
that remnant of nervousness disappeared. So, in all cases, 
will the stammerer's nervousness subside, when the cure is 
established in principle, and confirmed by sufficient exercise. 

Many persons have supposed stammering to be heredi- 
tary, because some stammerers have had relatives who 
were similarly affected. But the conclusion is too hastily 
drawn. A gentleman whose speech had all the character- 
istics of cleft-palate was noticed to form a percussive conso- 
nant occasionally, which proved, to a practised professional 
ear, that the supposed fissure in the palate could not exist. 
The gentleman was taught the proper use of his organs, and 
learned to speak perfectly. In this case the defect had 
been assumed to be congenital, because an elder brother 
had hare-lip and cleft-palate : but the younger had simply 
imitated the elder. So stammering often arises from even 
a casual imitation by a young child. But the impediment 
does sometimes appear spontaneously. In such cases, the 
utmost gentleness should be exercised toward the little 
stammerer. Harshness in correction will only aggravate 
the difficulty, by creating that dread of exhibiting the infirm- 
ity which is the worst and most enduring characteristic 
of the impediment. . 

Easy speaking depends on the management of the res- 
piration. This is true not only in reference to stammerers, 
but to speakers generally. The whole effort in speaking is 
to deliver the breath outwardly, through the proper chan. 
nels; for which purpose the lungs must be kept sufficiently 
charged with air. No labour is needed to replenish the 



io8 Defects and Impediments of Speech. 

lungs ; the mere cessation of outward effort, a pause, with 
the throat-passage open, will cause the lungs to expand under 
atmospheric pressure. This is a principle of the utmost 
value, which is not in general apprehended. The agent of 
expulsion of the breath is the diaphragm. As the lungs 
expand the diaphragm falls, causing a slight outward move- 
ment of the abdomen ; and when the breath is delivered 
from the lungs, the diaphragm rises, causing a slight inward 
movement of the abdomen. 

One of the best exercises to give a stammerer command 
over the respiration is to pronounce short utterances, one 
syllable, or one word, at first, with a regular alternation of 
breathing pause and speaking expiration. The inspiration 
must be absolutely noiseless, and almost imperceptible. 
With increasing facility the utterances may be lengthened 
until clauses and sentences flow on the expiration. 
Laboured breathing, suction, and jerking out the breath, 
must be carefully prevented. All random efforts must be 
checked, and deliberate purpose substituted, for whatever 
is attempted. Hurry is to be strictly restrained, for which 
purpose a rhythmical utterance will be of assistance, at 
first. A full volume of voice is to be cultivated j and, as 
a frequent exercise, reading and conversation with absolute 
stillness of the mouth, as a tube. Drawling should not be 
practised, but articulation may have any degree of rapidity j 
because no special mode of utterance should be the final 
result of instruction. The only particular in which a freed 
stammerer's speech should differ from ordinary delivery 
should be in its mechanical superiority. 

ELEMENTARY DEFECTS. 

A great many of the commonest defects of speech con. 
sist merely in the substitution of one element for another. 



Defects and Impediments of Speech. 109 

Of this character are Lisping — the substitution of th for s ; 
and Burring — the substitution of the back for the point of 
the tongue, in pronouncing r. Some consonant actions 
are more difficult than others for a child to acquire ; and, 
if the juvenile imperfections are not corrected by special 
instruction, the speaker rarely overcomes the defective 
sounds by his own efforts, but the blemishes remain to the 
disfigurement of adult speech. The correction can, how- 
ever, be accomplished at any period of life. 

The following are the principal of such defective sub- 
stitutions : 

(1.) T for k ; d for g; and n for ng. Corrected by 
holding down the forepart of the tongue, which compels 
the back of the tongue to perform the defective action, in 
the effort to pronounce the accustomed t, d or n. 

(2.) Dh for r; gh (burr) for r ; I for r ; w for r. Cor- 
rected by the development of the true sound of r, by push- 
ing back the point of the tongue while sounding z ; or by 
a soft reiteration of the syllable id-id-id-id, etc. ; or by both 
expedients, used alternately. 

(3.) Th for s ; Welsh // for s ; sh for s ; nh for s ; f for s. 
Corrected by development of the sharp hiss of s, by push- 
ing back the tip of the tongue while sounding th ; by lifting 
the point of the tongue while sounding sh ; or by gently 
holding down the tip of the tongue so as to flatten it ; while 
making the effort to sound a non-vocal r ; at the same time 
preventing any emission of breath through the nose, and 
any motion of the lips. 

(4.) Dh for z ; the vocal form of Welsh // for z; zh for z; 
v for z. These are the same defects as the preceding, but 
affecting the vocal forms of the consonants. The sound of z 
v/ill be developed by pushing back the tip of the tongue while 
sounding^; by lifting the point, while sounding, zh ; or 



no Defects and Impediments of Speech. 



by holding down the tip while sounding r ; and at the 
same time preventing the lips from moving. 

(5.) Fiox th; v for dh. Corrected by holding down the 
lower lip, and so compelling the tongue to do its own work. 

(6.) S for sh ; Welsh // for sh. Corrected by develop- 
ment of the characteristic hiss of 5/2 which is obtained from 
s by holding down the point of the tongue ; or from a non- 
vocal y by pushing up the forepart of the tongue. 

(7.) Z for zh ; the vocal form of Welsh // for zh. These 
are the same defects as the preceding, but affecting the 
vocal forms of the consonants. Z will be modified into zh 
by holding down the point of the tongue ; or y will be con- 
verted into zh by raising the forepart of the tongue. 

(8.) L for r. This is a very common defect among chil- 
dren. The sound of / will be obtained by opening the mouth 
widely and striking the point of the tongue repeatedly and 
firmly against the upper gum while sounding a vowel. 
Thus, ah-l-ah-l-ah-l-ah, etc. 

(9.) Ng for /. This defect will be corrected by practis- 
ing the lingual action of /, as above, and at the same time 
holding the nostrils to prevent any emission through the 
nose. 

(10.) Wioi I ; w for r. These defects will be corrected 
by holding the lips apart while practising the lingual actions 
of / and r. 

The ability to form the various elements in the foregoing 
category, as individual sounds, is in general acquired with 
readiness ; but the substitution of the new for the old 
habitual sound in words and sentences is not accomplished 
without difficulty. In nothing is the power of habit more 
strongly felt than in the organic associations of speech. The 
attempt to introduce a newly acquired element, at once, 
into reading and speaking will be attended by a dishearten- 



Defects and Impediments of Speech. hi 



ing number of failures. To avoid these, the element should 
be practised separately, or in combination with a single 
vowel, until it can be pronounced with ease and certainty. 
Then the consonant combinations into which the element 
enters should be repeated, again and again, with single 
vowels ; and not until these are mastered should the sound 
be introduced into words and sentences. At first the 
acquired sound should be slightly prolonged at each recur- 
rence ; until, in this way, a habit is formed of pronouncing 
it correctly, without special effort. A few hours, or, at most, 
days, should suffice for the obliteration of any of the ele- 
mentary defects. 



Orthography. 



XX. ORTHOGRAPHY. 

The confusion between letters and sounds in English is 
so great, that efforts have, again and again, been made to 
reduce our writing to something more of consistency and 
rule. A few changes which have been, of late years, 
introduced by lexicographers are now widely adopted, 
although they are not, in all cases, alterations for the 
better. If economy of type and of printing space were 
the object of change, the writing of one letter instead of 
two, would necessarily be an improvement; but such 
economy is not the object of spelling-reformers. Their 
aim is the laudable one to make the written word more 
nearly accordant with the spoken word. 

With only twenty- six letters in the alphabet, and some 
of these redundant, the use of digraphs for single sounds 
cannot be avoided ; nor can diacritic marks (such as 
w " A ) be dispensed with for the distinction of different 
sounds of the same letters. The scheme of elementary 
notation shown under the head of " English Phonetic 
Elements," makes the fewest possible number of changes 
of spelling, in order to show pronunciation ; but such a 
means of discrimination is not intended, or recommended, 
for general adoption, because, even with this comparatively 
simple arrangement of signs, dhe fd?ietik riting ov fngglish, 
bi menz ov Roman leters, wood dwlter dhe hoi dspekt qv dhe 
langgwij. 

Few persons carry their desire for spelling reform quite 
to this extent, but they confine their attention to some of 
the most obvious orthographic anomalies. Thus er is 
substituted for re in theatre ; tho for though ; plow for 
plough ; t for ed in passed, stopped, locked, etc. Of the same 
8 



ii4 



Orthography. 



nature would be the omission of dispensable letters in 
digraphs; as i from friend; a from head; o from leopard, 
etc. These are changes in the right direction, and many- 
more of a similar kind might be advocated ; but some of 
the alterations which have been introduced are not to be 
commended. For example, the omission of e in judgement, 
which violates one of the few absolute phonetic rules of 
our language: namely, that ^ before a consonant always has 
its " hard " sound. And what shall be said of the altera- 
tion which retains the silent letter of a combination, and 
discards the letter which is pronounced ? 

Such is the result when the termination our is contracted 
into or. This change is altogether in the wrong direction, 
because the termination is pronounced ur and not or. 
Previously to this innovation, the termination or was con- 
fined, almost exclusively, to personal nouns, such as 
creator, orator, sailor, senator, testator, tutor, etc. ; and the 
termination our to words of an impersonal nature, such as 
candour, favour, labour, rancour, splendour, vapour, etc. 
The distinction may have been of little importance, and 
unsustained by any difference in the etymology of the 
syllable ; but, such as it was, it had become established in 
the language, and with the confusion of our and or, the 
distinction disappears. 

A phonetic spelling is important to children in learning 
to read, and to foreigners in acquiring English ; but to 
persons who have passed through the rudiments of the 
language, and are prepared to profit by works of literature, 
the phonetic method has not a corresponding value. On 
the contrary, each word, as an element of thought, is 
associated with its orthographic outline, pictorially, in the 
mind, and the accustomed eye is perplexed and annoyed 
by phonetic distortion of the familiar word. 



Orthography. 115 

An entirely separate system of letters is extremely 
desirable for the uniform representation of sounds which 
are diversely written in different languages ; and the 
employment of such a phonetic alphabet — as it does not 
interfere with old associations — can excite no hostility 
among the most conservative of scholars. The physio- 
logical letters of " Visible Speech " are designed to serve 
this international purpose, without disturbance of estab- 
lished usage in the writing of any language. 

The Roman alphabet is, however, susceptible of being 
used for phonetic initiation. A little nursery book pub- 
lished by the author, about 30 years ago, (entitled " Letters 
and Sounds ") introduced a method which was tested at 
the time, in many families and some private schools, with 
results rivalling those obtained with the Phonetic Primers 
then recently published by Messrs. Pitman & Ellis. In the 
latter, a system of phonetic types was employed, but in 
" Letters and Sounds " the common alphabet was used. 
The full orthography of each word was printed, to accus- 
tom the eye to the presence of silent letters ; but the 
latter were shown in subordinate type. 

This little book having long been out of print, the follow- 
ing outline of its method may be of some future service. 
All the early lessons were illustrated by pictures illustrative 
of the sounds of the letters ; such as a boy holding out his 
hurt hand (0) ; a girl holding up her hands in wonder {eh / 
=a), etc. 

The first lesson introduced the letters a, o, s, and con- 
nected them in a little reading exercise made up of the 
words so, sa y , so w . The second lesson added the letters m, 
p, z, and in the reading exercise made use of such words as 
a l m, mo w , ma y , maim, pa y , ap e , mop e , so a p, ap e s ; the words 
being worked up into sentences with the pronoun I. The 



n6 



Orthography. 



third lesson introduced the letters h, shy and furnished such 
new words as ha v , ho e , hi gh , h e i gU t, hom e , hop e , sham 6 , sho w . 
The fourth added the letters t, k ; and swelled the vocabu- 
lary with such words as o a t, o a k, sift, si gh t, sak e , so a k, smote, 
shah 6 , sfak. The fifth lesson introduced the letters /, n ; 
adding such words as fi% fo", fi gJ, i, fo l k, saf 6 , fo a m, na y , 
h no w , ni gh t, o w n, nam*, k nif e , so w n, ste a m, sion\ etc. The sixth 
lesson introduced /, e, and added largely to the available 
vocabulary. The seventh presented u, th ; the eighth, v, z; 
the ninth, r ; the tenth, d, g; the eleventh, y, oo, w, wh ; 
the twelfth, q, c, ch ; and the thirteenth, /, g (soft). 

In the fourteenth lesson, the " short," or second sounds 
of the vowels were for the first time brought forward ; and 
reading exercises filled up the next two sections ; after 
which the alphabet was completed by the letter x. Addi- 
tional sounds, such as ah, aw, er, etc. ; and the different 
sounds of c, g, ch, etc.; were subsequently introduced, one 
by one. The little learners were delighted at being able 
to read, from the very first lesson ; and before half of the 
twenty-two sections had been gone through, they took 
pleasure in picking out words which they recognised in 
ordinary books. 

This method has since been imitated in school-books 
now in extensive use ; the difference being that, in the 
latter, the silent letters are printed in a light, thin type, 
instead of in the "superior" small type used in "Letters 
and Sounds." Were some such plan adopted generally, 
in the nursery and the primary school, and in teaching 
illiterate adults, we should hear less of the need of 11 spell- 
ing reform." A better initiatory use may be made of 
present materials ; and, after initiation, the pupil's eye 
becomes his teacher in the art of spelling. Nevertheless, 
many orthographic anomalies exist, which should be re- 



Orthography. 



117 



moved in order to facilitate the learner's task as far as 
possible. 

A complete reformation of spelling is not to be hoped 
for, — seeing that it would antiquate our whole literature ; 
but the inconvenience attending our present orthography 
may be obviated in another way : namely, by teaching 
children, first, to read from purely phonetic letters, and 
then — using the latter as a key — introducing at once 
the ordinary letters, in words, presented as pictures, as 
wholes, incapable of analysis letter by letter. The eye 
would thus become accustomed to the significant varia- 
tions of orthography, which are never practically learned 
by rule. 



Visibility of Speech. 



119 



XXI. VISIBILITY OF SPEECH. 

The art of reading inaudible speech from the motions of 
the mouth is one which is sometimes of great importance. 
Many persons totally deaf exhibit a surprising facility in 
understanding what a speaker says. The facility is sur- 
prising because many of the motions of speech are made 
at the back of the mouth, and cannot be seen ; and of the 
visible actions of the tongue and the lips scarcely one is 
free from possible ambiguity of interpretation. An exam- 
ination of the physiological letters of " Visible Speech," 
that is — letters by which the organic actions of speech are 
symbolised — will show what elements are liable to confusion 
by the eye, and also, precisely, what is the amount of such 
possible confusion. 

Those elements which have the same outline in the physi- 
ological letters look alike in speech. Thus, b and m 
are seen to be indistinguishable by the eye when spoken ; 
so also are t, d and n ; and k, g and ng. When a deaf 
reader, therefore, sees a speaker pronounce the word pay, 
he cannot be certain whether the word is not may or bay ; 
but he knows that it is one of the three, and the context 
in which the word is used directs him to the right selection. 

The number of words from which a speech-reader has 
to make immediate mental choice is often perplexingly 
large in the case of monosyllables ; and these are, there- 
fore, the most difficult words to decipher. Thus when a 
speaker says the word man, the visible action may mean 
any one out of no fewer than the twelve words : man, ban, 
pan, mad, bad, pad, mat, bat, pat, manned, band, pant. The 
right interpretation will, in such a case, test the ability of 



120 Visibility of Speech. 

the reader. But the context will usually suggest the appro- 
priate word. For example, in the following sentences : 

There is a strange at the door. 

He wiped his feet on the . 

Cook wants a smaller frying . 

He acted as if he had gone . 

He seems to be under a . 

Tom has broken his . 

I fear he is a very boy. 

He gave his brother a on the cheek. 

There was a fine of music. 

The sailors the boat. 

His running has made him . 

He should wear a over his chest. 

Longer words than monosyllables rarely present an am 
biguity extending over more than two or three words ; and 
a large proportion of polysyllabic words are absolutely 
free from ambiguity in their visible pronunciation. 

On the same principle, the ambiguity of monosyllables 
is greatly reduced when the words are phraseologically 
united ; so that sentences are much more easily deciphered 
than individual words. 

The physiological letters for the following pairs of ele- 
ments show, by their uniformity of outline for the elements 
in each pair, that these are among the sounds which can- 
not be distinguished by the eye when spoken : 
/ v ; wh w ; th dh ; 
s z ; sh zh ; yh y. 

The six actions of the mouth which produce these twelve 
consonants are visibly different one from the other, but the 
two elements in each pair have precisely the same organic 
action, and can only be distinguished by the speech-reader's 
appreciation of the context. A very full acquaintance 
with the words of the language, and a perfect knowledge 



Visibility of Speech. 



121 



of the mechanism of elementary sounds are, therefore, ob- 
viously, pre-requisites for the successful interpretation of 
inaudible speech. 

Much also depends on distinctness of articulation by the 
speaker ; and something — in most cases — on familiarity 
with the speaker's idiosyncrasies of utterance ; but many 
speech-readers may be found who have attained to such 
facility and accuracy, that they will interpret the speech of 
a stranger as readily as that of an intimate friend. 

The chief difficulty lies in the recognition of consonants 
formed behind the point of the tongue, and especially of 
those formed by the back of the tongue ; and in discrimi- 
nating such consonants from vowels and the aspirate h. 

With regard to the distinctions of vowels themselves 
there is little difficulty, because speech is intelligible, how- 
ever imperfect, when the delicate varieties of vowel sound 
heard in refined pronunciation are unheeded. Thus in 
stenography, if the position where a vowel sound occurs is 
indicated, the writing is sufficiently decipherable by one 
who has a competent knowledge of the words of the lan- 
guage. The principal vowel sounds have well-marked dif- 
ferences in the visible shape of the mouth ; and deaf 
speakers can be taught to discriminate these, while they do 
not require to study minute accuracy, in reference to the 
minor shades of vowel sound. A very limited range of 
vowels suffices for mere intelligibility. 



Imitation. 



123 



XXII. IMITATION. 

Man is an imitative being. What the child sees and 
hears, it does : imitation is its instinct. This faculty is 
strongest when the intellect is weakest. As the power of 
reasoning and reflecting strengthens, the instinct of imita- 
tion loses force. Instinct levels each tribe of animals to a 
common standard. Reason elevates individuals from the 
general rank, and dignifies them with a specialty of endow- 
ments. Thus the bird builds its nest and whistles its 
melody, now, as in the first springtime of creation ; but 
the handiworks of man and his utterances vary in every 
age and in every clime. All children resemble each other 
in infancy ; with growth comes, by imitation, likeness to the 
near, and, by consequence, difference from the distant; 
and only with maturity of mind is developed difference 
from the near, or individuality and independence of 
character. The latter quality is possessed proportionately 
with the amount of intellectual power. Thus the un- 
reasoning mob is swayed by a prevailing prejudice, or 
" blown about with every wind of doctrine " like the mass 
of ocean by the tidal force, or the whirling storm ; the 
thinking few direct their course for themselves, like the 
steamship on the deep, which crosses currents, stems op- 
posing tides, and steers its pathway even in the wind's eye. 
The man of genius is, of all others, the least amenable to 
ordinary laws and customs ; the man of lowest intellect 
is, of all others, the greatest slave of usage and prescription. 
Great men are original ; ordinary men are imitative. 
And well for the world is it that they are so ; for thus 
greatness is reflected and multiplied, and a nation is 
elevated by an individual. In this way, too, the common 
standard of humanity is raised, and the greatness of one 



124 



Imitation. 



age becomes the mediocrity of the next. The generality 
of men tread in the beaten ways of their fathers ; but 
genius — erratic and adventurous — strikes out new tracks, 
and leaves behind it " footprints on the sands of time " 
which the after-ages follow. 

Imitation — the early instinct of our species — grows less 
and less powerful as men advance either from childhood to 
adolescence, or from barbarism to civilisation. Imitation 
is the natural principle of development in the lower grades 
of humanity ; but reason, which modifies its influence in the 
higher grades, supplants it entirely in the highest. Imita- 
tion gives rise to specific rules; reason evolves guiding 
principles. The object of rules is to produce uniformity 
in practice ; and conformity is most necessary, and rules are 
most stringent, where the power of self-direction is weakest. 
Thus the piivate soldier is the slave of rule, and each 
man is, by studied imitation, but the repetition of his 
comrade ; while the leader of an army stands alone in 
freedom to exercise discretion and independent judgement. 
Imitation is thus, on the whole, most widely operative 
where intelligence is lowest ; and rules — the development 
of imitation — are necessary most, where reason is least 
exerted. 

The principle of imitation plays an important part in 
education. Children, being naturally apt to imitate, 
assume the manner with the speech of their parents or 
nurses; and school-boys learn as n uch indirectly by imi- 
tation, as they do by direct instruction. Hence, it is 
important that the models set before children, in the 
nursery and at school, should be such as may profitably 
be imitated, since copied they will be. A lisping or a 
stammering nurse will infect her young charge ; and, at 
school, a prominent peculiarity in master or companion 



Imitation. 



will repeat itself in others of the juveniles, either by con- 
scious mimicry, or by the unconscious influence of the 
imitative principle. The fact of this tendency to imitate 
we must accept as an inevitable necessity, but we should 
endeavour to counteract its evils by the constant applica- 
tion of a higher principle in teaching : — by training the 
reasoning powers at every step, and by discouraging as 
much as possible the inherent tendency to imitate. 

Even in the study of what are called the " imitative 
arts," there must be a higher principle than imitation as 
the basis of instruction. We learn to write by copying the 
models set before us, but if we merely copy these, with- 
out a knowledge of the principles which promote facility 
in execution, our efforts will be laborious, and our success 
slow and limited ; whereas if, from the first, the hand is 
directed in its movements, and the mind informed of the 
principle of easy motion, the pupil may develop the prin- 
ciple even further, and reach a higher degree of excellence 
than the master had attained, or the copy had exhibited. 
Imitation thus limits advancement to the level of the 
model ; whereas, perfection may lie beyond and above it. 

In nothing is the principle of imitation more directly 
and manifestly exercised than in speech, yet nowhere are 
we more unconscious of the influence. The instinctive 
effort of the child is to reproduce the utterances of its 
nurse, and thus, the language of the young takes not only 
a national form, but also family characteristics and indi- 
vidual peculiarities. This is the source of the entail so 
frequently observed in families, remarkable r or the same 
vices of articulation appearing in successive generations. 
And the instinct of imitation is later exercised in connec- 
tion with speech than with any other faculty. Even grown- 
up persons are, to the last, insensibly affected by the pre- 



126 



Imitation. 



vailing utterance around them, and, little by little, acquire 
the distinctive tones and pronunciations of the dialect to 
which their ears are daily accustomed. And not without 
effort is this propensity resisted. Early habits arc not 
eradicated but they are modified, and there is a curious 
intermixture of the native with the later-acquired dialect 
which indicates nationality of birth and locality of resi- 
dence at the same time. 

The difference- between the imitative aptitude of children 
and adults is strikingly exemplified in the families of for- 
eign immigrants, the children in which rapidly learn to 
speak English without a trace of peculiarity, while the 
parents never acquire the like ability. Thete is an articu- 
lation in the Welsh language which every child " to the 
manner born" pronounces instinctively with accuracy. It 
is the sound of //. Persons have been known to be in 
daily intercourse with Welsh families for years without 
being able, by imitation, to master this peculiar sound; 
while, at the same time, no person fails to pronounce it 
correctly almost at the first effort when its mechanism is 
explained. The same thing is observable in connection 
with the French semi-nasal sounds. Every French infant 
utters them spontaneously, but very few of the learners in 
our schools deliver them successfully after months of imi- 
tative effort ; unless where, by exception, the teacher has 
been able to assist the awkwardness of imitation by explain- 
ing the organic formation of the sounds. 

From the scope of these observations the reader will 
deduce, that the principle of imitation is to be repudiated 
in connection with Elocution ; yet this has been generally 
assumed to be the chief, if not the only standard in the 
teaching of this art. " Read as I read;" "Speak as 1 
speak ; " " Listen to the best speakers and learn from 



Imitation. 



127 



them; " " Open your ears to the speaking of good society 
and copy it ; " " Set before you a master whose delivery 
may serve you as a model ; " — these are the axioms of the 
advisers of young men who would be orators. But the 
axioms are wrong ; the advice is wrong ; the principle on 
which the counsel is founded is wrong. Some of the 
most eminent instructors in the art of singing have been 
no vocalists themselves ; a writing master might be para- 
lytic ; a blind man could teach instrumental fingering. 
There are principles on which all teaching should proceed, 
and these may be practically inculcated, and competently 
superintended in application, by one who might never 
once present a model of execution to his pupils. 

One who forms his style of speaking from that of an 
orator of note, is very apt to imitate more than the beauties 
of his model. These are, in general, the least prominent 
characteristics, and they have their sources in the ripeness 
of intellect and the stores of experience which cannot be 
imitated offhand. The assumed model has the prestige of 
an established name, and is therefore looked on with an 
eye of reverence and the partiality of admiration. Such 
a man may take a licence to speak and act in a manner 
that would be fatal to an orator of inferior rank ; and 
where there is most genius there is often most eccentricity. 
The singularities of such a speaker the youthful orator is 
in danger of adopting and confounding with the marks of 
excellence ; thus copying the defects and blemishes which 
are only tolerated in the original by their association with 
higher qualities. 

Manner is, besides, an essential part of individuality ; 
and characteristics of style, separated from the individual 
of whose temperament and antecedents they are the natural 
growth and expression, would be unnatural and pre- 



128 



Imitation. 



posterous. Thus the manner which is just, striking and 
consistent in one man, might be forced and incongruous 
in another. Manner to be agreeable and effective, must 
be the indigenous product of one's own qualities and cir- 
cumstances ; its roots must lie in native soil ; it will not 
bear transplanting. The produce of transplanted manner, 
at the best, is affectation. 

What, then, is the elocutionist to do ? For manner is the 
object of his culture. He must act the part of a skilful 
gardener, who does not graft a rose-bud on an apple-tree, 
or seek to train all growths according to one plan ; but 
who studies to extend the capabilities of every species, aijd 
whose aim is not to foster sameness but to engender 
difference. Elocutionary instruction must prune and 
nourish; its object must be development not transforma- 
tion ; its end not uniformity but multiplied variety. The 
principle of imitation is, then, at variance with the funda- 
mental idea of education, which is culture; the drawing 
out of that which is within ; the fertilising of the mind ; 
and the training of its spontaneous products. 

When, therefore, we see an example of excellence in 
any art, we may worthily emulate it, but not imitate. 
Emulation is an ennobling principle; imitation is a debas- 
ing one. If we admire the clear pronunciation of a 
speaker, his expressiveness of voice, or his elegance or 
appropriateness of gesture, let us, instead of copying, strive 
to emulate him in the application of those qualities and 
principles which render his delivery effective. In this way, 
we may, in the end excel him : by imitating him we never 
should. 

Shakespeare has, in a speech in " Hamlet," given a 
perfect compendium of the principles of delivery; and 
some persons fancy that they have in this speech the 



Imitation. 



129 



authority of the great dramatist for upholding the principle 
of imitation ; for does not Hamlet, it is said, begin his 
advice to the players with these words : " Speak the speech, 
I pray you, as I pronounced it to you ? " The words, it is 
true, are used, but the sentiment is not. The advice is : 
" Speak the speech, I pray you, trippingly on the tongue," 
and the words " as I pronounced it to you " form an inter- 
polated observation, or parenthesis. Shakespeare, so far 
from teaching that a speaker should form his style of de- 
livery upon the model of another's manner, bases his instruc- 
tion solely upon principles, clear, definite, and of universal 
application. He says : 

" Pronounce your speech trippingly on the tongue ; " and 
so avoid drawling, mouthing, and rhythmical sing-song. 

"Do not saw the air too much with your hands ; " but 
have a purpose of expression in your motions. 

" But use all gently ; " all ; your hearer's ears, your own 
muscles, and the reading-desk. 

" Even in the very whirlwind of your passion, you must 
acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smooth- 
ness." 

" 'Tis not in speakers to command assent. 
The judgement must be wooed ere it is won." 

" Be not too tame neither ; but " (and here is the very 
opposite of imitation) "let your own discretion be your 
tutor." In all things study fitness: "suit the action to 
the word,* the word to the action ; " and do not bawl out 
the language of humility, or whine forth, with a tone of 
lugubriousness, words of joy and hope and consolation ; do 
not stamp and thunder with an air of passion, when you 
speak of love and mercy and gentleness; or drone out 
utterances of reproof, appeal and argument. 

* See " Action." 

9 



i3° 



Imitation. 



Lastly, and above all, he adds : 

" With this special observance, that you o'erstep not the 
modesty of nature." Be natural. Speak, whether in the 
pulpit or on the platform, as you would elsewhere ; and, 
deliver your prepared addresses as you do your spontaneous 
conversation. This is the sum of Shakespeare's advice; 
and what more can be said ? 

Imitation is not without its value as an improver of 
manners, when it is used to supply the want referred to by 
Robert Burns : 

" O wad some power the giftie gie us 

To see oursels as ithers see us ! 

It wad frae mony a blunder free us." 

In this way, we are frequently made conscious of some 
peculiarity or ungainliness, which we did not realise until 
we had seen it imitated. But there is a limit to the profitable 
exercise of this principle. It would be reprehensible wanton - 
ness to imitate the hobbling gait of a man with a broken 
leg; while it might be genuine kindness to mimic the 
swagger or the shuffle of one who had only fallen into 
a preventible bad habit. We may, as a general rule, 
advantageously take off such faults as are only put on — 
whether unwittingly or from affectation. But anything 
beyond a person's power to remedy is no fit subject for 
mimicry. Instances are common of children imitating a 
squint or a stammer, until the propensity has become irre- 
sistible, and the little mimics have remained permanently 
affected with what they copied in idleness and mischief. 
" Mocking is catching," says an old maxim ; and when the 
mocker is not punished with the defect, he sometimes prop- 
erly " catches it " in a more summary manner. 

The principle of imitation is often subtly involved in the 
elementary construction of words; such as hop, twitter, 



Imitation. 



boom, bang, jerk. Each elementary sound has an expres- 
siveness of its own, which may be traced in a large number 
of the monosyllables of all languages. Thus the vowel aw 
is a long-faced sound, and it therefore expresses solemnity ; 
while ah is a broad-faced sound, expressive of sprightliness 
or laughter. Consistently with this, lah ! is a light and 
flippant ejaculation, while law / as everybody knows, is a 
serious matter. 

The same principle of phonetic imitativeness is largely 
used by poets in the construction of their measures, as well 
as in their choice of words. Pope says : 

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, 
As those move easiest who have learned to dance. 
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, 
The sound must seem an echo to the sense." 

Imitation has its degrees, from the simple etching of out- 
lines, to the full painting of detail, and filling in of light 
and shade. Of the first kind is the imitation of nationality 
in pronunciation, or of class characteristics ; as when, in 
relating an anecdote or repeating a conversation, one 
should speak with the broken English of a Frenchman, 
the brogue of an Irishman, or the pronominal singularity 
of a Quaker; with the illiterate slang of a city Arab, or 
the spoiled melody of a sing-song preacher. The second 
kind of imitation descends from the general to the par- 
ticular, and includes the minutest personalities ; as when 
one illustrates the peculiarities not of a Frenchman but of 
some particular Frenchman. The first kind is, properly, 
imitation ; the second is mimicry. The one is a pre- 
Raphaelite painting, a marvel of accuracy in drawing and 
minuteness of finish; the other a production of the later 
schools of art, in which concentration of effect, rather than 
general elaboration, is aimed at. As applied to delivery, 



132 



Imitation. 



the first kind of imitation is proper to reading, the second 
to acting. Versatility is the prime requisite in reading; 
consistency in acting. An actor's training, therefore, may 
differ widely from that of any other speaker. Imitative 
instruction may profit the player, while it would spoil the 
preacher. An actor's business is to make himself master 
of the qualities which a certain line of characters calls into 
action. With these, limited in range but highly developed 
in degree, he may attain to eminence in his department. 
A preacher, or a pleader must have qualifications less 
perfect, it may be, but more general. In order to take 
high rank, he must 

" Know all qualities, 
With a learned spirit, of human dealings." 

When imitation is set aside as a method of instruction, 
the minds of both teacher and taught are fixed upon the 
rationale of the subject of study. To teach rationally is, 
however, less easy than to teach by example ; and it is, 
also, more difficult to follow a precept than to imitate a 
model. But the difficulties are chiefly rudimental, and, 
when these are surmounted, the delight of learning and 
the pleasure of teaching are ever increasing and ever new. 
Besides, to profit by imitation, the model should be 
constantly changed. Variety of example is a necessity, or 
imitation becomes wearisome. But to develop a principle 
is a source of perpetual enjoyment, and to trace it in its 
varied applications is a work of sustained interest and 
gratification. A principle is a seed which yields its increase 
to the end of life. Imitation is a weed which overruns 
uncultivated ground, and should be rooted out by careful 
husbandry. 

Impatient learners of elocution are apt to wish for a 
harvest without a seed-time. That which should be last is 



Imitation. 



i33 



sought for first. But the order of nature cannot be vio- 
lated. The popular idea, indeed, is that Elocution means 
simply recitation, or declamation; and teachers have too 
often limited instruction to this department. But the prac- 
tice is absurd, and the result mischievous. We cannot 
write well with a bad pen ; and, on the same principle, the 
tongue, the voice, the hand — the instruments of oratory — 
must be adjusted to perform their functions properly, 
before they are brought into combined action in reading 
or reciting. 

The cultivation of vocal expressiveness, by mastering all 
the varieties of the tones of speech, (see " Tones of 
Speech ") is an object well worthy of the student's utmost 
effort. The Gamut of tones is used to its full extent, 
instinctively, in conversation, by almost every individual, 
especially by children, yet there are very few persons who 
make use of any similar variety of intonation in reading. 
Not all the rules that elocutionists have ever devised, nor 
all the models that could be imitated from all ranks of 
speakers, could do so much to harmonise the tones of 
reading with those of spontaneous speaking, as the study 
and practice of these simple elements of natural expression. 
The practical value of exercise on the individual tones 
exceeds that of any other means of vocal culture. No 
voice that the most apt imitator could echo would furnish 
more than a small proportion of the amount of possible 
tonic diversity, or of the variety attainable by one who, 
with competent endowments, should enter, with an artist's 
zeal, upon the study of the elements of intonation. The 
imitative speaker is like a musician who plays by ear — 
and whose tunes are therefore limited by his own experi- 
ence — as compared with one who can awake the silent 
harmonies of the written page, and reproduce the melodies 



134 



Imitation. 



of other times and countries. Untutored orators speak 
by ear, while they revolve their little sets of styles and 
mannerisms ; the truly cultivated speaker is spontaneously 
varied in his effects, and his voice has no more predispo- 
sition to any habitual tune, than has a flute or a fiddle. 

It should be impossible for a hearer to predicate from an 
orator's delivery either his province or his profession ; yet 
how few are there who are free from dialectic or profes- 
sional twangs ! It is natural enough for the street-hawker, 
the town-crier, the cheap John, and the showman to exhibit 
class characteristics in their oratorial callings ; but why 
should we have among educated speakers the almost 
equally marked varieties of the forensic voice, the lay 
religious voice, and the clerical voice ? The existence of 
these is a reproach to education, which is, in this particu- 
lar, far behind the refinement of eighteen centuries ago ; 
and it is an especial scandal to our colleges and universi- 
ties, that they so generally discourage by neglect the study 
of that art which is the exponent of all learning, and with- 
out which knowledge is shorn of its influence, and litera- 
ture of its vitality. 



Reading and Readers. 



*35 



XXIII. READING AND READERS. 
The Art of Reading presents a subject as interesting as 
it is extensive. Reading embraces all the persons in the 
conjugation : 

I read, thou readest, he reads and she reads, 

We read, you read, they read. 
All the pronouns read except one — "it." It can't read. 
Reading needs comprehension, and the grammatical " its " 
are not comprehended in the comprehending class. The 
power of reading is thus co-extensive with the power of 
comprehending. The power of speaking is generally 
reckoned the distinguishing faculty of man ; but, as some 
birds can speak, and all animals do communicate intelli- 
gence by sounds of some sort, the power of reading would, 
perhaps, better symbolise man's intellectual superiority. 
Dogberry thought that "reading and writing come by 
nature." Speaking does : the active imitative principle in 
man compels him to do what others do ; he therefore speaks 
as he hears others speak : — English in Britain and the 
United States ; French in France ; Dutch, Greek, Gaelic, 
or Hottentot where these prevail; with a nasal twang in 
one district ; with a guttural rasp in another ; and with the 
lisp or the stammer of his family examples in all parts of 
the world. We can't help speaking, but we need a great 
deal of help to enable us to read. To speak is human, but 
to read is divine ; it is the divinity, the intelligence in man, 
that reads. 

Reading is the first of human blessings : the power is 
native to us ; the education, or drawing out of the power 
is the work of industry and taste. Reading is the chief of 
all the arts of life. It annihilates for the mind all obstacles 
of time and space. The records of the past, the events of 



'36 



Reading and Readers. 



the distant, it makes present to us. The thoughts of ancient 
sages, and of contemporary philosophers, the imaginings of 
the poet, the inventions of genius, and the discoveries of 
science, it makes our property, our inheritance, and our 
legacy to future generations. Bound to the earth as we 
are, born of the dust and to the dust returning, our span of 
days would pass in ignorance and end in oblivion, but for 
the blessed agency which entails to us the accumulated in- 
telligence of past ages, and secures to us its life-rent enjoy- 
ment, and to posterity our increase of the rich possession. 

Reading implies writing, and writing must have preceded 
reading. The arts have a common object ; they are one, 
in fact, but " male and female — useless one without the 
other." With the invention of writing, and by consequence 
of reading, began the history of man. All before is dark. 
Men lived and died, and left no memorial save their bones. 
Their knowledge perished with them, or only a vague 
tradition of it survived. They wrote their early progress in 
the flints with which they killed the beasts of the forest or 
the fatlings of the flock ; in the huts they built, the skins 
they wore, the clay vessels they baked in the sun or hard- 
ened in the fire ; only in these mechanical productions, 
during their long lease of pre-historic barren life. 

The pictorial representation of familiar objects gave 
origin to the arts of writing and reading; pictures gave 
place to symbols, and symbols of objects to symbols of ab- 
stract ideas. From pictures of the mouth in forming 
sounds the rudimental forms of letters were probably de- 
rived ; and thus, by slow degrees, an alphabet recording 
speech and perpetuating knowledge, crowned the laborious 
ingenuity of man, and gave us the inestimable means of 
writing and reading. 



Reading and Readers. 



137 



Speech writes itself on air — a tablet less durable than 
the shifting sand ; when the sound is past, it cannot be 
again deciphered, and nothing but the fleeting memory of 
it remains. Writing, by means of an alphabet of letters 
representing spoken elements, is only another form of speak- 
ing ; it is speech, addressed to the eye, and fixed for repe- 
rusal, on objects material and durable. The most enduring 
tablets of writing are brass and marble, which outlive 
dynasties and nations; but perishable paper preserves it 
for a lengthened period, while, by means of the reproduc- 
tive press, its longevity is indefinitely extended. 

" All things in nature one by one decay- 
But in the reproduction of their kind 
Survive and are eternal. Language, thus, 
Upon the fragile page inscribed, outlives 
The tablet through a multitude of deaths, 
And in its reproduction never dies." 

It is well for the world that the lessons of its philosophers 
and the songs of its poets have thus a duration far beyond 
that of their short-lived authors. Many of the great works 
of antiquity have perished ; but now, all that is deserving 
of prolonged life is embalmed by the press for an earthly 
immortality. 

The term Reading has two distinct applications : namely, 
to the silent deciphering of language for our own informa- 
tion, and to the translation of visible into audible lan- 
guage for the information of others. These two forms of 
reading are not sufficiently distinguished in practice. 
What we read for ourselves only is not necessarily pro- 
nounced at all ; or it may be mumbled in the utterance, 
and the reader lose no part of meaning. Tennyson says : 

" Things seen are mightier than things heard." 



Reading and Readers. 



The statement does not apply to l eading. Words merely 
seen are not so powerful as words heard. The written 
word conveys the thought, but the spoken word carries 
with it the speaker's vocal comment or suggestion, in com- 
mendation or in deprecation of the thought. The lan- 
guage of the voice is indissolubly joined to the ideographic 
word, and that which was a mere symbol becomes a spiritual 
influence. The letter is dead, but speech is the embodied 
soul of language. 

The eye may gather the scope of a paragraph or a page 
at a glance, and so may be said to skim the cream off a 
composition, without taking up the milk and water which 
underlie it. Lord Bacon says : " Some books are to be 
tasted" — that is, only nibbled at here and there ; " others 
to be swallowed" — that is, by a rapid bolting operation; 
" and some few to be chewed and digested " — that is, 
turned over in the mind, clause by clause, and period by 
period, until the thoughts of the author are thoroughly 
assimilated in the reader's mental system. 

In reading for the information of others, there can be no 
skimming, no bolting ; the eye may take in a sentence, but 
the mouth can give out only a syllable at one time. Read- 
ing aloud, then, must be of the masticatory kind ; and yet 
there are varieties analogous to the less careful modes. 
One passage will be discriminated as easy of digestion, and 
treated like spoon-meat — bolted ; another, perhaps, will be 
rolled as a sweet morsel in the mouth — made the most of ; 
and another will be dealt with as a tough bit, and carefully 
divided into fragments before it is allowed to pass. The 
school-boy often meets with these tough pieces, unwisely 
placed before him; and ihey give him a habit of dividing 
and munching even at words which are quite familial and 
easy. Children should never be called on to read aloud 



Reading and Readers. 



i39 



language which is above their comprehension ; for unless a 
reader can take the thoughts into his own mind he cannot 
deliver them to the mind of a hearer ; and reading without 
thinking is not reading but mechanical pronouncing, like 
the talking of a parrot. 

The object of one who reads may be twofold. It may 
be both to acquire and to communicate a knowledge of 
what is written. In this case, the reader's eye is very apt 
to run in advance of his tongue, and his utterance is con- 
sequently liable to hurry and confusion. Gathering the 
sense for himself by the eye, he forgets that the hearer has 
not the same advantage. In serving two masters he does 
not serve them equally, and the neglected one is sure to be 
the " other" one. 

Reading aloud is properly reading for the benefit of a 
hearer. The reader knows — for he sees — what he is 
going to say before he utters it, and his duty is, first, to 
take the thoughts into his own mind, and then to deliver 
them as if they were spontaneously conceived. But the 
majority of readers do not give themselves the trouble to 
think, and hence their reading is merely mechanical. Sub- 
jects and predicates, things new and things repeated, prin- 
cipal topics and parenthetical explanations, are all jumbled 
together ; and the labour of sifting and assorting is left to 
be performed by the hearer, while the mass is heedlessly 
accumulated at a rate which renders the operation impos- 
sible. Public readers of this class are intolerable. They 
treat their hearers' ears as if they were quarry-holes to be 
filled up, and they treat their subject as if it were rubbish 
to be dumped out in cartloads. 

Not every reader can gather the sense, and see all the 
relations between words, by mere prevision at the time 
of reading ; therefore, whatever is to be read in public 



[40 



Reading and Readers. 



should first be well studied in private. The errors that we 
sometimes hear could not possibly be committed if the 
matter read had been made the subject of due preparation. 
The more thoroughly the reader knows what he has to 
deliver, the better will be his reading. Besides, his eye 
must be free to address itself to his hearers. Common 
politeness requires one to look at the person we speak to ; 
and if a reader keeps his eye directed on the page, he treats 
his hearers with disrespect — to take the lowest ground of 
reproach — and virtually reads only for his own informa- 
tion. Some readers, as if to show their independence 
of the written page, actually shut their eyes during the 
delivery of memoriter portions. This is like dropping an 
unaddressed letter in the post-box. Nobody gets it. 
Whereas, the same matter addressed to the hearers by the 
speaker's eye is received as a personal communication by 
each auditor. 

This oratorical quality in reading is the one which is 
generally most wanting, and the ineffectiveness arising from 
the want, is the source of the prejudice which prevails 
against the reading of sermons, speeches and lectures. 
The shrewd observation has been made that this prejudice 
is seldom very strong where the addresses are above the 
average in excellence, as compositions ; but that the preju- 
dice is insurmountable when the ill-delivered matter is 
commonplace ! While, therefore, taking the form of op- 
position to reading, the prejudice is, in reality, only directed 
against bad reading. 

So far as the hearers are concerned, there is obviously 
no difference between a composition read and one deliv- 
ered from memory. To the speaker, however, there is an 
important difference. What is delivered from memory is 
remembered chiefly by association ; the last words of one 



Reading and Readers. 



141 



section forming the cue to the next. Paragraphs and pages 
thus learned by the run, generally require to be delivered 
by the run, lest a link in the chain should be lost. Such 
memoriter speakers are, in reality, readers ; only, they read 
from a concealed book ; and they are, almost of neces- 
sity, worse readers from the page of memory than they 
might become from unconcealed MSS. were they properly 
to study the art of reading. The public reader who is a 
master of this art is to his hearers a speaker, rather than a 
reader. He is the latter only to himself, and for his own 
convenience. The manuscript lies before him as an assist- 
ance to recollection, a source of confidence, and a preven- 
tive of error. The reader has the further advantage, that 
he can, without fear of losing his place, interpolate any 
observations that may arise to his mind as he goes on ; 
while he who reads from memory is only safe while he 
avoids all mental discursiveness. The latter is on a line of 
rails, and he rolls on smoothly and expeditiously, only too 
quickly and evenly ; but he must keep on the rails, and 
memory must stand by the switches at every junction and 
every crossing, lest an accident may happen, and one train 
dash into another train — of thought. The reader, on the 
other hand, travels on the highway, and he can go now to 
this side, now to that ; stopping here and sauntering there, 
at will; turning aside, when opportunity serves, through 
tempting by-ways of thought, and returning to the road by 
untrodden paths, delightfully refreshing in their very broken- 
ness and contrast to the cut and leveled and parapeted 
highway. 

Reading and Readers might be classified under four 
distinct heads — Mechanical, Expressive, Impassioned, and 
Dramatic ; but, while a great deal might be said under 
each head, the various qualities characteristic of the differ- 



14-2 



Reading and Readers. 



ent styles must really be present, in greater or less degree, 
in all good reading. The mechanism of speech must be 
perfect : no lisping, no burring, no stammering, no elisions 
of letters or of syllables ; the expressiveness of words, and 
the rhythm of sentences and of metrical lines must be pre- 
served without monotony, without hiatus, and without re- 
curring tune; the passion of the utterance must be dis- 
criminated with full sympathy, but without extravagance or 
loss of self-possession; the dramatic effect of varying moods 
and different speakers must be illustrated, without degener- 
ating into mimetic assumption ; and all must be so tempered 
and subdued, that none of the finer shades of sentiment 
may be blurred by coarseness, or exaggerated into undue 
prominence. Like the colours in the spectrum, the de- 
lineations of a reader should be severally distinguishable, 
while lines of demarcation are either non-existent, or im- 
perceptible. 

Expressive reading thus differs from acting, in which in- 
dividual assumptions are complete in every particular of 
voice, gait, and even dress, in a way that is incompatible 
with transitions from one character to another. Acting is 
representative and real ; reading is suggestive only : the 
one pictures to the physical eye, the other to the mental 
eye. A good reader might be but a very ordinary actor, 
and a first-rate actor might prove but an indifferent and un- 
interesting reader. Acting is like a photographic picture, 
which must be sharply focussed, and which presents with 
equal clearness of definition every object within the focal 
range, whether it be the shape of a feature or the pattern 
of a ribbon, the perspective of a building, a broken pane of 
glass, or the line of a waterpipe. Reading is like a painting, 
in which only selected forms are introduced, and in which 
the ha rd outlines of reality arc softened by blending touches, 



Reading and Readers. 



i43 



while all necessary accessories are subordinated to the cen- 
tral and dominant object of the picture. 

Reading is thus, frequently, much more agreeable than 
acting, and realises better the general scope and intention 
of the play. It leaves more to the imagination, and the 
imagination is a better artist than actors and scene-painters 
are. Who does not feel his conceptions of the supernatural 
degraded by almost any attempt at material presentation ; 
as, for example, of the storm and shipwreck in Shakespeare's 
"Tempest," — the tricksy and delicate spirit Ariel, — the 
weird sisters and the blasted heath, in "Macbeth," — the 
apparitions of Banquo's issue, — or the ghost in " Hamlet ? '» 
The utterances of the bare-headed King Lear, when ex- 
posed to the "rough tyranny of the open night" by his 
unnatural daughters, are sadly jarred on by the crackling 
of the sheet of copper which does stage-duty for thunder ; 
and a thousand other effects are far better conceived than 
realised by any attempts at representation. Again, in 
witnessing a play, while the Romeos and Hamlets may be 
sufficiently satisfactory, tragedy is converted into farce by 
the wretched Mercutios and Guildensterns to whom one 
is equally compelled to listen. In the effective reading of 
a play, the little points of difference in the reader's manner 
help the fancy without disturbing it ; they are suggestive of 
more than they express, and the hearer does his part with 
the author in creating the world of character and scenery 
by which the mind is filled. Thus, a poet's word-painting, 
expiessively read, yields a higher enjoyment than the 
attempted embodiment of his pictures by even the most 
accomplished delineators on canvas or in action. 

Pre-eminent among all modern word-painters is the Poet- 
Laureate, Tennyson — although he often indulges in hazy 
atmospheres and indefinite patches of colour which puzzle 



144 



Reading and Readers. 



the ingenuity of his readers. This, however, is part of the 
poet's skill. Tennyson can be clear and sharp in his out- 
lines, and his works are full of sunlit beauties, crisp and 
clean in every line ; while they abound also in passages 
over which the poet has spread a film of mist, through 
which the reader has to pore long before the objects dimly 
seen reveal themselves in recognisable forms. But in his 
deepest shadows there is meaning. An ardent admirer of 
the poet ventured to request his explanation of a phrase of 
unusual obscurity, respecting which a variety of opinions 
had been formed. But the charm of the passage would 
probably have been lost in an explanation where perspicu- 
ity was not intended ; and the Laureate replied to his cor- 
respondent that such a thing was never heard of, as a poet 
being his own interpreter ! 

The masterly effect of intentional obscurity is seen in 
many of Turner's pictures, in front of one of which a de- 
lighted connoisseur was seen standing rapt for half an hour. 
At last he turned and asked: "What do you think that 
patch of colour is intended for ? " " Probably a rock," was 
the answer, " a mere amorphous lump of stone." But the 
other had, after his long gaze, spiritualised the patch into a 
living form, and had, at last, come to the conclusion that 
the shapeless rock was intended for a cow. So, often, in 
poetry. Only with difficulty can we discover the occulted 
meaning ; and our fancy has sometimes to be as freely 
exercised, at first, as that of the critic at the painting. 
None but a great artist, however, should venture on ob- 
scurity — if he hopes to be studied and appreciated. 

The elementary principles of all arts are generally those 
which stand most in need of reiteration and illustration. 
In connection with reading, the chief principle to be in- 
sisted on in all cases is intelligibility. This includes three 



Reading and Readers. 



145 



things : namely, clear enunciation, grammatical perspicuity, 
and logical modulation. 

The first of these might, for the present purpose, be dis- 
missed with its mere specification. Clear enunciation is 
the primary requisite of intelligibility. The indefiniteness 
of readers in pronouncing syllables is, doubtless, to be at- 
tributed, in great measure, to the indefiniteness of letters 
in representing sounds. Give a learner a distinctive sym- 
bol for each separate sound, and he will naturally be as 
precise in pronunciation as he is now naturally obscure. 

Our language stands in great need of improvement in 
this respect. There is nothing in the nature of sounds to 
prevent their being denoted by uniformly intelligible char- 
acters, applicable to all languages, in such a way that a 
native of any country might pronounce the written words 
of any language, exactly as they are heard from vernacular 
speakers. This precision of phonetic writing — long im- 
possible — is now rendered practicable by the invention of 
physiological letters which symbolise the organic mechan- 
ism of articulate sounds, and so convert writing literally 
into visible speech. 

The second requisite of reading is grammatical perspi- 
cuity. This is really a very simple matter, but simplicity 
is turned into complexity and confusion by inattention to 
the most obvious principles. Sentences are made up of 
facts and circumstances ; and readers have merely to dis- 
criminate between these : to state facts independently, and 
circumstances in due relation to facts ; not to connect facts 
with wrong circumstances or to mix circumstances with 
each other. To take an example : 

" Every lady in the land 

Has twenty nails upon each hand 

Pive and twenty on hands and feet — 

Nor more nor less to be complete." 

IO 



146 



Reading and Readers. 



This reading makes nonsense of a true statement. Yet 
this is the way poetry is generally read — with a stop at 
the end of each line, whether the sense requires it or not. 
The proper allocation of facts and circumstances gives the 
very different reading of these lines : 

" Every lady in the land 
Has twenty nails : upon each hand 
Five; and twenty on hands and feet; 
Nor more nor less to be complete." 

Whether in reading prose or poetry, the principle is the 
same : attend to facts and circumstances ; unite no words 
that have not a mutual influence in expressing sense, and 
separate no words that are so related. Reading can never 
be good that is regulated either by lines in poetry, or periods 
in prose. Many divisions must be made where no punctu- 
ation is written ; and the customary marks must frequently 
be disregarded, when they interfere with the governing 
principle of sense — the clausing of words for the inde- 
pendent expression of facts and circumstances. 

Logical modulation is the last requisite of intelligibility 
in reading. Words grammatically belonging to the same 
clause, and circumstances relating to distinct facts are, 
often, in composition separated from one another; and the 
reader's voice should ally them, by correspondence of 
modulation. Thus in the lines : 

" Slowly and sadly we laid him down 
From the field of his fame fresh and gory," 

the clause "fresh and gory" has no reference to either of 
the nouns in the same line; but it refers to the word 
u him " in the preceding line : 

" Slowly and sadly we hud lain (being still fresh and gory) 
Down from (lie field of his fame." 



Reading and Readers. 



147 



This meaning is brought out, and false meanings are ex- 
cluded, by a modulation of the voice, separating the clause 
of ambiguous reference from the words to which it does 
not refer, and raising it to the level of its true antecedent. 

" Slowly and sadly we laid him down 
From-the-field-of-his-fame — fresh and gory." 

Examples are better than precepts to inculcate a princi- 
ple. One more example — as actually heard from a cleri- 
cal reader — may be adduced : 

"And they came with haste, and found Mary-and-Joseph-and-the- 
Babe — lying in a manger." 

This reading conveyed as the "fact" of the sentence 
that Mary and Joseph, as well as the Babe, were found 
" lying in a manger;" but the truth of the narrative re- 
quired the " circumstance" — " lying in a manger" — to be 
united only with the word " Babe." 

Whatever be the subject of reading, the prime require- 
ment is perfect intelligibility. The hearer will be all the 
better pleased if, at the same time, the matter be rendered 
attractive by magnetism of voice and manner ; but a reader's 
style should never be obtrusive. Bad reading compels one 
to notice manner in the first place. Good reading should 
fix the thoughts upon the matter only. 



Oratory and Orators. 



149 



XXIV. ORATORY AND ORATORS. 

Oratory, in the broadest sense, signifies articulate oral 
communication ; and in the more ordinary scholastic sense 
it means the art of public speaking. In both senses the 
quality of oratory is the most distinguishing characteristic 
of man from man. The condition of oratory thus reflects 
the character of a people, and the character of a person. 
Among aboriginal and illiterate tribes, before commerce 
has united them to the brotherhood of nations, oratory is 
highly figurative, because words are few, expressive pri- 
marily of sensible objects, and used each for a variety of 
ideas. Among lettered and commercial nations, oratory is 
exact and literal, because words are many, and abstract 
ideas are expressed by separate terms. So, among classes 
of men, oratory is, on one hand, limited to a small vocab- 
ulary ot words, which do duty in almost every sentence, 
constituting the slang of a grade or the technicalities of a 
craft ; and on the other hand, it is copious and varied in 
expression, constituting the exactitude of philosophy, or 
the subtle elegance of poetry. 

The great arenas of public oratory are the church, the 
court-house, the legislative chamber, and the theatre. 
Every one knows how carefully the orators of each class 
are trained to high efficiency before the.y enter on their 
duties. Nothing short of the every-day achievements of 
our speakers could be expected from such laborious prep- 
arations as they undergo ! How curious it seems, to reflect, 
that there was a time when the glorious faculty of oratory 
was held in such low esteem that neglect, and ignorance, 
and perverse habits took the place of instructors, and when 
orators, under such training, spoke just as a dog barks, or 
a cat mews; unwitting of the wondrous processes em- 



Oratory and Orators. 



ployed, and unheeding of the high possibilities of artistic 
eloquence ! In those old times the highest aims of speak- 
ing were associated with the lowest exercise of speech ; 
for to be natural in sacred effort was deemed to be profane ; 
and profanity prospered by the theory. Nature sought 
refuge in the theatre, and the church, scowling upon the 
play-house, excommunicated the worldly assistant from the 
sacred edifice. Nature, being a thing of this world, was 
made over to the men of the world ; and in this way it 
was that an antagonism arose between the two kinds of 
oratory, called sacred and profane. 

In the ardour of opposition people often do very foolish 
things ; and it came to pass that, while profane orators, 
under the guidance of nature, spoke through their mouths, 
orators of the other class trumpeted through their noses ; 
while profane speakers used a gliding, changeful intonation, 
speakers of the other class drawled in monotone ; while the 
one class moved their arms through a curvilinear path, 
which an artist of the despised natural school had demon- 
strated to be the line of beauty, the others jerked their 
limbs at angles of deformity, and emphasised their actions 
with the direct force of a threshing-flail; while the one 
swayed the body gracefully from side to side, the others 
bobbed it up and down ; while the one stood erect, or 
walked about with easy freedom, the other shut himself up 
in a case, and doubled his body over the cushioned edge ; 
while the former class of speakers looked and moved as if 
under the influence of present feeling, the other preserved 
the passionless equanimity of a statue, or moved with the 
mechanical uniformity of an automaton. 

Now, all this is happily changed. Nature is allowed to 
be the highest Art, and the highest art is acknowledged to 
be but Nature. It is no longer considered profane to be 



Oratory and Orators. 



natural, or to study art in order to educate, or draw out, the 
powers of nature. Our orators are all trained speakers ; 
their voices are trained, their bodies are trained, their noses 
are restrained ; they have mastered the instrument of speech, 
the diapason of sounds, the " manual exercise " of oratory. 
They have passed through the discipline of the awkward 
squad, and have learned to handle their " arms " with effect, 
and when not in " action " to stand at ease." 

Is this picture true ? Alas, the olden times are still with 
us in the present, and the era of artistic oratory is yet in the 
dim distance of futurity. 

The fact has long been a subject of too well-founded 
complaint, that manner is not studied by our orators, pro- 
portionately to its importance as compared with the matter 
of oratory ; while, at the same time, the advantages of 
effective delivery are universally felt and admitted. What- 
ever be the reason of this anomalous neglect, it certainly 
derives no encouragement from history, or from living ex- 
perience, and no justification from commonsense. 

There are, it is true, some persons who, in the pride of 
mental strength, affect to despise all the teachings of art in 
respect to delivery. But these are a small minority, and 
we do not find their practice consistent with their theory ; 
for they themselves acknowledge the influence of manner, — 
in the attention with which they listen to an effective speaker, 
and in the listlessness which a careless or uncouth delivery 
provokes, just as much as those who admit the value of 
style, and who scrutinise the subject-matter less closely. 
We may build theories upon the power and dispassionateness 
of reason, and argue, with much plausibility, that the all- 
potent faculty needs only that plain truths should be plainly 
set before it ; but there is a charm in well-managed utterance 
which will upset the theories, and compel the confession, 



Oratory and Orators. 



that, although reason should ever lead and not be led by 
the feelings, it will often be indebted to them for being 
roused to inquiry even in matters of the deepest importance. 

The eye cannot appreciate the purest gem through the 
encrustments which bedim it in its native mine ; nor, until 
the lapidary has polished its surface, can its beauty be 
rightly discerned, or its value estimated. And so, in delivery, 
the mind cannot recognise, through coarse enunciation, 
rusticity of dialect, or monotony of voice, even the loftiest 
imaginings of genius, or the most artistic charms of com- 
position ; but these are best seen and most prized when not 
only vulgarities are removed, but the polish of rhetorical 
skill is added. 

Indeed, the manner in which we give utterance to our 
thoughts is almost as important as the words which we 
employ. No thought can arise in the mind without some 
attendant emotion — even if it be a feeling of indifference ; 
and, therefore, no language can fully represent a speaker's 
thoughts unless its delivery be impressed with the emotion 
natural to that idea. Words are the material of an arti- 
ficial language, arbitrary in acceptation, and varying with 
the geographical distribution of men. Cross a petty belt 
of water, a hill, or a few fields, and this language is unin- 
telligible. The language of feeling is the language of the 
human race ; neither national nor local, it is everywhere 
current, everywhere it is the same. These two languages 
must be united in all delivery. " Better," says the proverb, 
" is a living dog than a dead lion ; " and better is an 
inferior address, vitalised by eloquence, than the most 
scholarly discourse that falls dead from lips of dulness. 

Every orator aims either to instruct, to persuade, or to 
amuse ; and he cannot do the one or the other without a 
manner suited to the end in view. A miser cannot teach 



Oratory and Orators. 



1 S3 



benevolence, or a drunkard temperance ; a bigot cannot 
inculcate toleration, or a hypochondriac infuse mirth or 
cheerfulness ; neither can a speaker produce the effect he 
aims at, on his auditors, if he be not himself correspond- 
ingly affected first. He must " assume the virtue if he 
have it not." The importance of the subject must not be 
trusted to for raising the appropriate feeling in the hearer. 
Men will sympathise ; they will be moved by sincerity, or 
the appearance of it ; but they will not be impelled to feel- 
ing in any other way. An abstract reflection will not move 
the heart, and a mere precept falls coldly on the ear. 

The delivery of language, however eloquent, without 
corresponding eloquence of manner, may be compared to 
the dreary aspect of the most varied landscape when clouds 
obscure the glorious luminary of day. The objects are 
visible, but dimly seen. The trees and the extended pros- 
pect look pallid and deathlike ; the gray waters murmur in 
a sullen light ; the mountain shadows are lost in the gloom ; 
and the breeze sweeps hoarsely the dismal obscuration. It 
is thus when the soul, the sun of the intellect, is clouded. 
The clatter of words spoken in monotony or senseless tune, 
goes on unheeded by the uninterested mind. Momentous 
truths may be the subject of discourse, but they are only 
dimly apparent in the vocal haze. The most solemnising 
thoughts, the most elevating themes, may be so coldly and 
unrealisingly delivered that men will sit supinely during the 
recital, or respond only by indications of drowsiness. 

The cause of the strange and unseemly apathy of man- 
ner which produces such results may lie far back in the 
orator's history. The natural connection between words 
and feelings was, perhaps, broken in early life, at school, 
when the child, reading language beyond his comprehen- 
sion, was allowed to acquire the habit of meaningless in- 



154 



Oratory and Orators. 



tonation, which no after-training, either at school or col- 
lege, was provided to correct or counteract. 

Not more level are the lines upon a printed page than 
are the tones with which words are pronounced by tyro 
readers, under the negligence of teachers ; and the same 
voice that is rippled over with inflections and the rise and 
fall of wavy modulations, in conversation and in the play- 
ground, sinks to a flat and sleepy calm in the exercises of 
the class-room. A little care and good example at this 
period would prevent the formation of those vocal habits 
which, in the adult orator, so outrage nature and violale 
the inherent expressiveness of the voice. Amendment, 
however, like the faults to be amended, must be elementary. 
Instruction must begin at the beginning or it will but sub- 
stitute one mannerism for another. Teachers of oratory 
have too often done this, and nothing more ; and the ef- 
fect of their lessons has been — as many affirm — to make 
what was bad become worse ; to put an ill-fitting garment 
slouchingly on a man's shoulders, instead of the easy 
though rudely fashioned one which custom had made to 
sit upon him without constraint. 

At present, the first business of the oratorical instructor 
is not to teach but to un teach ; not to cultivate elegance 
but to extirpate deformity; not to build up, but to pull 
down, and to dig for new foundations. Articulation, which 
should have been perfected in the school-boy, presents a 
mass of confusion and error in the grown-up candidate for 
oratorical refinement. The tongue, which should have 
been trained to accuracy of movement, is still, in this, the 
lowest sense, an " unruly member ; " the lips, which should, 
as the portals of the mouth, expand and shut with smooth- 
ness and precision, are warped and unwieldy, pushed awk- 
wardly ajar or rudely slammed together ; the whole organ- 



Oratory and Orators. 



i55 



ism works at random, and the mechanism of speech is 
distorted and imperfect. 

Notice has been already taken of certain class character- 
istics of Delivery,^ otherwise there is no peculiar style of 
oratory which should be distinctive of any class of pub- 
lic speakers. The same powers, to be more or less devel- 
oped according to circumstances, are required by all. But 
if energy and the use of homely, heart-touching phrase- 
ology, and, above all, of natural tones, be more called for in 
one case than another, they should be found in the pulpit. 
Yet the different kinds of profane oratory exhibit by far the 
higher proportion of these qualities. 

There was a time when the stage stood first in oratorical 
rank. In the theatre was the model of pronunciation, and 
the taste of the gifted players softened, refined and varied 
our language in its sounds, and exalted the popular appre- 
ciation for the intellectual charms of poetry. Now, the 
ballet, the opera, the spectacle, the pantomime, the troupes 
of acrobats or performing dogs are the attractions which, 
in managerial phraseology, will best " draw." The degen- 
eracy would seem thus to be as much in the public taste as 
in the stage. It is true the theatres are not now frequented 
by the class of auditors who graced the efforts of a Gar- 
rick and a Siddons. The stage is no longer the national 
amusement. But why is this ? Let not the fashionable 
deserters of the drama " lay the flattering unction to their 
souls " that the degeneracy of the theatre has driven them 
from it. The cause is rather that their unintellectual pref- 
erence for dancers and singers has made the stage what it is. 
Starve a man and he will become lean ; desert the theatre 
and it will inevitably lose caste ; and managers must cater 
to the taste of such classes as will support them. 

* See "Class Characteristics of Delivery." 



Oratory and Orators. 



Dramatic exhibitions are fascinating. They always make 
a deep impression on the mind. If, therefore, the stage is 
not a public good it will become a public nuisance, power- 
fully operative for the perversion of taste, and the endan- 
germent of morality. In the theatre we should : 

"See Comedy, with pointed ridicule, 

Pierce to the quick each knave and vicious fool; 

And Tragedy — a warning to the times — 

Point high her dagger at exalted crimes. 

Drive from the heart each base, unmanly passion, 

Till virtue triumph in despite of fashion." 

Nature seldom gives us more than the faculty to excel 
in any work. Her gifts must be moulded and fashioned by 
her handmaid, Art. As in husbandry, she yields her riches 
to industry, and to indolence is unprolific and sterile. So 
in Oratory. The liberality of Nature is everywhere visible 
in the distribution of oratorical powers, and it is only from 
the want of cultivation that we see no correspondent pro- 
duce of excellence. The field of oratorical utility extends 
far beyond the limits of the learned professions, and in- 
cludes all ranks of citizens as interested in its culture. 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



*57 



XXV. AN ALPHABET OF ORATORS, 
OF "capital" and "lower-case" types. 

The quality of oratory or oral utterance, has been de- 
scribed * as representative of character ; and — as will now 
be shown — we 'may run through the whole alphabet in 
glancing at only a few of the characteristics of representative 
orators. The alphabet consists of large, or what printers 
call " Capital" letters, and small, or what they denominate 
" Lower-case " letters ; and the varieties of oratory are, like 
the letters, either of Capital type — the less common — or of 
Lower-case type — decidedly the more common. 

To take the alphabetic letters seriatim, we find — as A 1 
— the Amatory Orator; of Capital type when the love that 
thrills the voice is chaste, sincere, unselfish, aiming only at 
the good of the beloved object ; but of Lower type when a 
meaner motive prompts the tongue. The Amatory Orator 
may well take the lead in our category, for of all the passions 
none is so eloquent as love. The adage says : " men are 
born poets, and made orators " by art. There are many 
cases where even the highest art would fail ; but love fails 
never. Love is an inspirer of eloquence. A person 
who " cannot say bo to a goose," under ordinary circum- 
stances, will do the beau to admiration when before a silver- 
tongued, responsive belle. It is true that lovers are often 
tongue-tied in the crisis of their oratory, but this militates 
nothing against the asserted eloquence of love. For the 
feeling that hangs weights upon the tongue is rather one of 
fear than love. Perfect love has no fear — no hesitancy. 
What can surpass the eloquent prattle of a young mother 
to the new intelligence of her nursling ? She is an Ama- 

* See " Oratory and Orators." 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



tory Orator of the Capital kind — large Capital ! But love 
letters generally are of Lower type. 

Next to Love as an inspirer of Oratory is, perhaps, that 
other more gross intoxicant which Burns addresses in 
" Tam o' Shanter : " 

4 ' Inspiring bold John Barleycorn, 
What dangers thou canst mak us scorn I 
Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil — 
Wi' usquebaugh we face the d — 1." 

The Bacchanalian Orator, therefore, comes next on our 
list. There is no Capital variety of this species : it is all 
of Lower type. Nothing can be more dangerous than the 
custom to which nervous orators sometimes habituate them- 
selves of " keeping the spirits up by pouring spirits down," 
before making a public appearance. A spirit is thus raised 
within them which not all the force of philosophy and 
religion can lay. Each present quaff is found to be a draft 
on future spirits, for the reaction is not less certain than the 
short-lived action. The nervous speaker can only, in 
safety, draw his " spirits from the vasty deep," in the shape 
of the distilled mountain dew that runs in silver streamlets 
down ♦the cloud-capped hills. The speaker of nervous 
temperament, who leans on a barley reed to steady him- 
self, is precisely the one who will be most apt to lean too 
heavily and fall. 

Having now got fairly afloat in the alphabet, we may 
proceed to C. The most prominent variety of speaker 
under this category is the Catechising Orator : one who is 
continually asking if you are attending to him, if you arc 
following him, if you understand him, if you agree with 
him, if you believe him, if you are convinced by him, if 
you will act on your convictions, if you will do this and 
that, and if you won't do the oilier thing; if, in fact, you 



An Alphabet of Orators. 159 

have penetration enough to discover that black is black, 
and that white isn't — that two and two make four, and that 
two and three don't. It is tiresome and worrying to be 
continually questioned when no opportunity is afforded you 
of replying. Questions are idle and rude when they are 
not expected to be answered. A question implies either 
an appeal to the hearer's will or knowledge, or a desire for 
information, arising from doubt or ignorance on the part of 
the speaker. There can be no doubt about the ignorance 
of the constantly catechising speaker — ignorance of the art 
of oratory, ignorance of human nature. People like to 
draw conclusions for themselves, or to fancy that they do 
so. The true orator will so put his premises before the 
hearer's mind as to force upon it, unconsciously, the logical 
conclusion he desires ; but if the speaker is always doubt- 
ing, and probing, and investigating, and catechising, to find 
out if the process is going on, he is like the youthful bota- 
nist who was continually pulling up his plants to see if they 
had. struck root ! A question is Capital when it is put in 
reference to an unanswerable proposition, or to a fact or 
argument which answers it triumphantly in the statement ; 
but questions are of Tower type when they are put — as by 
the craft of catechising orators — without reference to ar- 
gument or reason. 

We have now got to the end of the ABC, although we 
are yet only at the beginning of the alphabet. Under the 
next letter, the speaker that seems most worthy of notice 
is the Deliberate Orator. Of this variety we find both 
kinds — Capital and Tower type. Deliberation is Capital, 
when the speaker weighs, or seems to weigh, his phrases 
before he utters them. His manner is complimentary to 
his hearers, as though he studied to speak worthily of such 
an auditory ; and his deliberation further seems to intimate 



160 An Alphabet of Orators. 

his conviction that what he says is worth the uttering, and 
worth the listening to. But hurrying speech, or glib un- 
broken fluency from period to period, sounds as if the 
speaker either did not think his audience worthy of more 
care, or his address worthy of being pondered. The one 
speaker is attentively listened to by willing hearers — every 
noise is hushed, every rustle stilled until the appropriate 
interval ; the other is listlessly yawned at, while his voice 
is drowned in coughs and shufflings ; and what is heard 
" goes in at one ear and out at the other." Deliberation 
is of unquestionably Lower type when the speaker pauses, 
not for thoughts, but for words ; above all, when he hums 
and haws, and drawls for lack of ready language. 

Our examination will now go on with E's. Here we 
have a choice between Effeminate speakers — Capital when 
of the real sort, and heard at the right time and place ; 
Egotistical speakers — always of Lower type ; and Efferves- 
cent speakers. Let us select the last. The Effervescent 
Orator varies the general tameness of his delivery by suddem 
outbursts of unsustained energy. He has two keys : one 
soft, semi-voiced, and confidential ; the other harsh, abrupt, 
and ear-splitting. The first lulls you into a state of sleepi- 
ness, and when you are just subsiding into a doze, the 
second violently tingles you back to consciousness. You 
hear the pop as of a champagne cork, and lo ! it is followed 
only by humble ginger-beer, — which, after the first gush, 
is " stale, flat and unprofitable." The quality of efferves- 
cence is pungent and agreeable, so that there be flavour 
with it, and something more than froth. It is then Capital ; 
but it is decidedly of Lower type when it consists of "vox 
et preterea nihil" 

The Foppish Orator may stand as representative of the 
class under F ; not Capital, but of Lower type. Nothing 



An Alphabet of Orators. 161 

can make oratorical foppery Capital — unless as a capital 
offence. The clerical fop is, of course, the worst. As the 
poet says : 

" In man or woman, but far most in man, 
And most of all in man that ministers 
And serves the altar, in my soul I loathe 
All affectation." 

The Foppish speaker is continually occupied in little ad- 
justments of his dress, his gown, his wig, his cravat, his 
collar, his cuffs. His pronunciation is mincing and pre- 
cise, as if his polished voice were stepping over stones in a 
muddy lane ; and he keeps his hearers so occupied with 
himself that they cannot attend to what he says, or rather, 
they hear and heed not. 

In the next series we find the Galvanic Orator. Every 
accent of his voice, like the contact of the poles of a bat- 
tery, makes his whole frame jerk with the emphasis of utter- 
ance. He is certainly a most moving speaker, for he can- 
not be still. But his restlessness is not merely of the fidgety 
kind — it is shocking. Being so, we shall take an abrupt 
leave of him and turn to the next category. 

A gentle cough calls our attention to the Hemming 
Orator, who is continually clearing his throat for words that 
hang fire, and will not go off until the glottal percus- 
sion-cap has snapped to open the passage ; and next to 
him is the Humdrum Orator, whose tame and tardy utter- 
ances have no fire at all. The less heard of him the better. 

And now what a host of speakers we have under our I's : 
the Illiterate, the Imaginative, the Imitative, the Impetuous, 
the Independent, the Insinuating, the Ironical and a crowd 
of others. As representative of the most important class, 
we may select the Imitative Orator. He is a speaker of 
vivacity, of agility. Let his voice say " up," and up go his 
ii 



162 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



arms; let it say "down," and the obedient members fall. 
If he speaks of his heart, he shows you its locality, and points 
out the position of his head, lest you should not other- 
wise discover its whereabout. He depicts by gesture every 
word, and addresses his discourse as much to the eye as to 
the ear. When his action is mechanically good he pro- 
duces a great effect on an uncritical assembly, but he is a 
tiresome tautologist to the intellectual. People of average 
understanding do not require such double information, and 
they become disgusted with a person who is continually 
thrusting upon them lessons in anatomy without an atom 
of necessity. Gesture should be suggestive of something 
which the words do not fully express, or should only add 
an impressive earnestness to utterance. Imitative action 
belongs exclusively to the Lower type, or is suited only to 
a congregation of deaf persons, when it accompanies lan- 
guage as a pantomimic glossary. 

We have no great variety under the letter J. The Ju- 
venile Orator is, perhaps, the one most worthy of selection. 
In the nursery, the oratory of the very juvenile speakers is 
really eloquent. What an accord of tone and sentiment ! 
What winning wiles — what imperious mandates — to coax 
the doll or to command the cat! This is Capital; but 
juvenile oratory is of Lower type when the little parrot 
stands forth to squeak grandiloquently language far above 
his comprehension. The first requisite for effective oratory 
is a perfect understanding of what is spoken ; and the 
natural eloquence of childhood is lost in the delivery of 
words which convey no meaning, or a very imperfect one, 
to the little speaker's mind. Habits of unnatural oratory 
are thus acquired which all the efforts of after-life cannot 
remove. The various ( lasses of professional orators teem 
with speakers whose perverted mannerisms have this early 



An Alphabet of Orators. 163 

origin. Children should neither read nor recite language 
the import of which they cannot feel. Attention to this 
precept would probably do as much for adult oratory as 
all the treatises and trainings of rhetoric and elocution. 

The letter K does not offer a very wide selection. The 
speaker most needing observation is one whom we may call 
the Kneading Orator. He is undoubtedly a handy man, 
for he is constantly handling his subject as if it were a lump 
of dough ; and he cannot be denied the merit of being a 
most striking orator — with his fists. He is most frequently 
found in the pulpit where the cushions before and around 
the speaker offer a soft and yielding surface for his knuckles. 
One is tempted to ask, on seeing him so industriously oc- 
cupied on the velvet, what is the purpose of his kneading. 
The fact is, it is only the expression of an undisciplined 
energy which needs to be properly directed. It does no 
good to anybody but the upholsterer. Instruction is the 
one thing needing in such cases. We need not lengthen 
this section. The next is longer — a couple of L's. 

The most prominent speaker in the L category is he of 
the ell-wand, the Ladies' Orator. What a captivating bow 
he makes with the newest cap-ribbon ! How he holds 
forth on the merits of a mantle or the fashion of a feather, 
while he holds forth the lovely article in fascinating atti- 
tude ! He is a very Cupid in address, as he excites the 
dress-cupidity of his customers. He is equally good at 
fitting and counterfeiting. In his encounters with the fair, 
he can act and counteract, charge and countercharge, 
charm and countercharm, countervail and counterwork, 
with an eloquence and elegance against which few persons 
or purses can -count on being counterproof. He is the true 
special pleader of the gown and the long robe, and of all 
sorts of suits — the Barrister of the counter ! Moreover, 



164 An Alphabet of Orators. 

if shop-visitors be credited, few pleaders are so successful 
in avoiding a non suit. 

We cannot neglect another most interesting speaker in 
the L category — the Lisping Orator. Well he may be lo- 
quacious, for what a long tongue he has ! or, rather, seems 
to have, for it is not necessarily long in being seen. The 
hissing sounds of S and Z, not knowing exactly the way 
out of the mouth, are accompanied by the tongue as far 
as the teeth, — sometimes as far as the lips. This politeness 
is awkward in its consequences, for the organ cannot get 
back in time to attend to other duties within. Lisping 
is merely a habit of obtrusive lingual action, perfectly re- 
movable by so simple a discipline that there is no excuse 
for its continuance, unless the speaker is in love with it. 
And this is sometimes the case. The defect is so common 
in the pretty, imperfect prattle of childhood, that the poets 
have adopted lisping as the symbol of infant innocence 
and grace. On this account, children of a larger growth 
become attached to the habit, and preserve the soft, sweet 
sound for the sake of its associations. But, however be- 
coming lisping may be in the little nursery Miss, it is far 
from being so in a man : in him it is decidedly amiss. If 
we grant it Capital in pinafores, it is, assuredly, of Lower 
type in crinolines and stand-up collars. 

Two opposite classes of speakers are suggested by the 
letter M — the Melodious Orator, and the Monotonous 
Orator. The Melodious orator has a tune to which all his 
sentences are set, so that when you hear one sentence you 
have got a revolution of his barrel, and all the others are 
just like it. Dialectic speakers belong to this class ; for 
every dialect has its tune. In some of them. the voice is 
always falling, and in some it is as regularly rising, from 
the beginning to the end of a sentence; in some it makes 



An Alphabet of Orators. 165 

a wave of one kind, and in others of the entirely opposite 
kind. This sort of melody — as well as that first referred to 
above — is of the Lower type ; but melody is Capital, when 
it varies with the mood which the words express. 

The Monotonous Orator has as little music as a muffled 
drum. All his tones are repetitions of the same note, and, 
whether the matter that he utters is grave or gay, the 
manner of his utterance undergoes no change. Monotony 
may be Capital, when it is sparingly introduced for an 
occasional effect ; but it is always of Lower type when it 
is habitual. 

The speaker that claims notice under the next letter is 
the Nasal Orator. Some elements of speech are entirely 
nasal : these, in English, are three consonants only ; but 
in some languages there is a class of vowels of a semi- 
nasal quality, which produce a highly characteristic effect 
on pronunciation. What is meant, then, by nasal speaking 
is not simply the passing of sound through the nose, for that 
is a regular and necessary process in certain elements, but 
the diversion of the main current of voice from a purely 
oral to a partially nasal channel. The quality of speech is 
greatly affected by this change of route, and not agreeably 
so to unhabituated ears. The voice acquires a dull reso- 
nance in the cavities of the head; a muffled funereal 
quality, suggestive of gloomy solemnity; like the "dim 
religious light " of a cathedral aisle, which may, perhaps, 
account for the prevalence of nasality in the 

" Conventicle, where worthy men, 
Misled by custom, strain celestial themes 
Through the pressed nostril, spectacle-bestrid. " 

The dialectic nasality which characterises some districts on 
both sides of the Atlantic, may, perhaps, be a legacy left by 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



the Puritan fathers, who thus have given a tone to speech 
as well as to sentiment. 

From the next category we select the Obstreperous Ora- 
tor, as one who makes a great noise in the world. It is 
utterly impossible by any description to convey an idea of 
his extraordinary vocal nights and physical feats. No 
building can contain his voice, and the wonder is that any 
platform can sustain his body, or any pulpit hold it in. 
He roars and writhes, as though all the tortures of the 
Inquisition were simultaneously racking him, while the per- 
spiration of a porter in the dog-days pours from every 
pore. This is, by way of earnest of his earnestness, a 
Capital quality, but not necessarily associated with rabid 
ferocity of manner. The Obstreperous Orator, even when 
he talks of love and tenderness and mercy, looks and 
speaks as if the " tender passion " put him in a towering 
passion ; and mercy filled him with excruciating misery. 
His hearers, wide awake, certainly, sit gazing in terrified 
wonder at the awful vehemence which lashes the waves of 
sound about their ears. And what is the reason of all this 
uproar? It is — "like a tale told by an idiot — full of 
sound and fury, signifying nothing." There is no malice, 
no anger, no threatening intended. Let not little Red 
Riding Hood be afraid. It is not a naughty wolf dressed 
up like grandmamma, but only good grandmamma dressed 
like a wolf. 

Now we must mind our P's and Q's. We shall, this 
time, seek a subject in a region of refinement — in the Leg- 
islative chamber. Here we have a whole houseful of ora- 
tors. Every man on the benches lias passed through the 
ordeal of committee-room and caucus speechifying ; and, 
before the congregated voters of district, town, or county, 
has proved his fitness to be their representative and spokes- 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



167 



man. Here, surely, if anywhere all must be Capital. The 
assembled Political Orators represent all varieties of Large 
Capital and Small Capital — few but capitalists being 
elected ; — and of every variety of type — modern Roman 

— old English — long Primer — small Pica — Burgeois — 
and Minion — little Titling — and large Posters — the 
wooden and the leaden type : — all are represented in the 
House of Representatives. The orators here should be of 
the most sparkling kind, filtered as they have been through 
every stratum of society, and many plies of canvass. They 
must be interesting speakers, for they represent all interests ; 
they must be long-winded, for they have often to speak 
against time ; they must be high-toned, for they have to be 
heard all over the country. Political oratory, on the whole 
is garnished with a larger proportion of Capital qualities 
than is elsewhere to be met with ; although the Lower type 
is far from being uncommon. 

The preceding section furnishes the cue for the next. 
Under the letter Q we select for notice the Quizzical Ora- 
tor. He is no stranger in the arena of Politics, but he is 
most frequently found in that of Law. Quizzical oratory 
is the peculiar and telling characteristic of learned counsel. 
How he plays with his victim in the witness-bo k, and makes 
game of his learned brother on the other side ! The Bar 

— as everybody knows — is licensed ; and raw spirits, under 
proof, are extensively " sold " in virtue of the licence. 
Sometimes the selling is carried too far, and a Prohibition 
act seems desirable to put restrictions on the custom of the 
Bar, and " shut up " the unfair dealer. Quizzical oratory 
is Capital, when it exposes pretentious ignorance, or trans- 
fixes hypocrisy with the shafts of ridicule ; but it is of a 
Lower type when it " plays its brilliant parts " to injure 



i68 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



honest dulness, or to insult the meek and quiet spirit of 
truth. 

The next letter suggests a literary character, a man of 
letters, as the French say, of " Belles Lettres " — the Rhe- 
torical Orator. Rhetoric signifies the art of Eloquence, 
but it is apt to be too artificial. Rhetoric teaches the use 
of Figures of speech, but it is sometimes used so that the 
speaker only makes a " figure " of himself. Butler says, in 
" Hudibras," that 

" all a rhetorician's rules 
But teach him how to name his tools." 

The satire is still true ; for modern rhetoric deals too little 
with the practical, too much with the merely discriminative . 
too little with the plain, too much with the subtle. The 
Rhetorical speaker cannot be satisfied with simplicity ; he 
must be fine, till fineness degenerates into finesse. His 
oratory makes a grand display of flowers, but bears pro- 
portionately little fruit. The soil too richly manured, the 
crop is more abundant in straw than oats. The Rhetorical 
speaker ought to be the best. He knows his tools, if he 
would but use them as he should best know how. Only a 
clumsy workman leaves the mark of his chisel on the face 
of the statue. Rhetoric is only Capital when the speaker 
uses it so as to fulfil the end of his oratory ; and to make 
the hearer feel that the work has been well done, rather 
than that it has been done well. 

The ancient rhetoricians were artists in the true sense of 
the word ; they were workers rather than theorists ; with 
them art meant execution ; they distinguished between art 
and the rules of art ; and the application of the rules of 
Rhetoric, what we now call Elocution, was considered as 
the most important part of rhetorical study. Hence their 
excellence in the Forum. Rhetoric now subordinates 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



169 



practice to theory ; and hence the prevailing mediocrity of 
our most learned orators. Those who are faultily rhetori- 
cal, fail, not from using too much, but too little of the rhe- 
torical quality. They have stopped too soon, and left un- 
acquired the highest grace of art, in keeping art out of 
sight. 

The next speaker to be noticed is one who claims our 
sympathy — the Stammerer. He is the victim of a habit 
which unnerves him. A nightmare sits on him by day, 
and he can neither speak nor hold his tongue. The con- 
flict of will and powerlessness convulses him with futile 
effort ; and the more he tries to shake off the incubus, the 
more firmly does it grasp him. In him the instinct of 
speech is perverted, and he is altogether unconscious that 
the cause of his failure is his own blind contest with the 
organs of speech. The lingual elements linger on the 
palate, the labials labour on the lips, the gutturals gurgle in 
the throat, and the whole utterance is clogged with self- 
inflicted impediments. Those who have acquired the habit 
of easy articulation are not sufficiently sensible of the 
blessing they enjoy — the inestimable privilege of free 
speech ! They might have changed places v/ith the stam- 
merer ; for they are as unconscious of the means by which 
they have succeeded as he is of the reason of his failure. 
This is a discreditable fact. When the physiology of speech 
shall be studied as it deserves to be, and teachers of the 
elements of language shall be skilled in sounds as well as 
letters ; when the juvenile stumbler over difficulties shall 
be kindly directed by knowledge, not chastised or ridiculed 
by ignorance, then stammering, with all its train of mental 
evils and unutterable sufferings, will be unknown. 

Let us now take T. The Theatrical Orator stands forth 
as the representative under this head. The player's art 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



ought to be serviceable to all classes of society, and especi- 
ally to speakers of every class. For what is the purpose 
of playing ? It is :" To hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to 
Nature, to show Virtue her own feature, Scorn her own 
image, and the very age and body of the Time its form and 
pressure." To see our faults reflected on the stage is to be 
made cheaply conscious of them ; and to know a fault is 
almost to be cured of it„ Acting, however, has lost much 
of its reflecting property, and, from showing men and man- 
ners, it has come to be a display of showmen and manner- 
ists. The theatrical orator is no safe model for the speaker, 
nowadays. His delivery is mouthing, his tones are con- 
ventional, " of the stage stagey," his passion is bombast, 
his tragedy is comic, and his comedy is burlesque. There 
are, no doubt, brilliant exceptions, but the " stars " are few 
and far between, that shine amid the paltry jet-lights of the 
modern stage. A theatrical delivery is Capital, when it 
unites grace with energy and classic propriety ; but it is 
of Lower type when these qualities are superseded by ex- 
travagance and buffoonery. 

Our next example should be from U ; but on the prin- 
ciple that " present company are excepted " we shall pass 
on to the following letter. 

In the V category the Vulgar Orator seems worthiest of 
selection. Vulgar means " common," and vulgar speakers 
are certainly common. The field of vulgarity is wide ; 
and, although it abounds in weeds, it is richly besprinkled 
with wild flowers, beautiful and sweet. The dialects of 
many districts have an expressive charm which is perfectly 
untranslatable into a more cultivated phrase. This charm, 
however, is lost when dialects are used out of place. A 
Yorkshire " Hamlet " would be offensive in Drury Lane; 
and a Billingsgate "Bailie Nicol Jarvie," in the Saltmarket 



An Alphabet of Orators. 



171 



of Glasgow. The dialectic speaker must have " audience 
meet," unless he speaks in some eventful crisis, when eccen- 
tricity is lost sight of in emergency. Within its own ap- 
propriate sphere, Vulgar oratory may be as effective as the 
most scholarly delivery. 

By way of amends for passing over U, we have a W 
this time. In this category the Wriggling Orator claims 
our attention. This St. Vitus-like speaker does not stand 
firmly in his boots, but his feet wriggle from heel to toe 
and over one another; his knees are not braced to hold up 
his body, but they wriggle outwards, inwards, backwards, 
forwards ; his sides are not erect to sustain his chest, but 
they bend and wriggle, first one way then another; his 
shoulders are not squared to the spectator's eye, but they 
wriggle up, down, out, in ; his arms are not expanded in 
their movements, but they wriggle about and seem to crawl 
over his body. His head wriggles on the wriggling neck, 
— his tongue wriggles in his mouth, — the words wriggle 
out, — and he wriggles all over, and all together. Wrig- 
gling is Capital, when it is intended to be funny ; but it is 
of Lower-case, and intolerable, in connection with any 
department of serious oratory. 

There is one extra class of orators ; but they will not 
range under X. They are not found among the Y's, and 
they have nothing in common with Z. They are those 
who have a difficulty in coming to the end of any sub- 
ject. They seem to get to their wit's end before they con- 
clude. Half a dozen times they appear to have done, and 
you gather up hat and gloves to be off, when, lo ! another 
of their many " heads " starts up, and you pop your hat 
out of sight again. The title of this essay tells where these 
observations must end : — at the End of the Alphabet. 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 173 



XXVI. A SHADOW-CLASS OF STUDENTS. 

Allow me to introduce to you a class of Shadow-students. 
With your mind's eye, you will please to notice them now 
gathered around the reading-desk. These gentlemen 
have all some dialectic peculiarities or faults of utterance, 
which they desire me to point out and correct. I take 
the opportunity of doing so in your presence, thinking 
that you may be interested in the progress of the work ; 
and that possibly you may afterwards make some profit- 
able application of the principles which I shall have occa- 
sion to rehearse. 

Now, Shadow-gentlemen, I shall call on each of you to 
read a few lines, to exemplify your present styles ; and, as I 
point out the characteristics requiring attention in each in- 
dividual case, I invite you to put any questions or make 
any observations that may aid in securing a perfect under- 
standing of the directions and the principles involved. 

Mr. Anderson, will you please to commence ? 

{Edinburgh.) " Shall I read any particular part ? " 

Open the book at random; take the first passage that 
meets your eye. 

" No more shall nation against nation rise, 
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes ; 
Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er, 
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more." 

Thank you. Your pronunciation is strongly dialectic. 
I say nothing of dialects in the way of approving one or 
contemning another. Each has its* charm to ears accus- 
tomed to it. But dialects are out of place in all public 
life. Our standard literature has no dialects, neither should 
our standard speech have any. A pure and uniform pro- 



174 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 



nunciation should be taught in every school. There are 
but few elements in speech ; correct these and the whole of 
speech is corrected. For example, in the passage just read, 
more than one-half of the words were mispronounced. The 
proportion would have been the same had the number 
been multiplied by thousands. Yet the correction of nine 
or, at most, ten elements would rectify the entire vocabu- 
lary. Thus : 

"No more (not more) shall nation (not nation) against nation rise (not 

rise), 

Nor ardent warriors (not warriors) meet (not meet) with hateful eyes ; 
Nor fields with gleaming steel (not fields with gleaming steel) be cov- 
ered o'er " (not covered o'er), etc. 

" I'm afraid I should never remember so many changes." 

Not if each word involved a separate act of recollection. 
You are in the habit of using several hundred words in 
your common speech ; and Hyde Clarke's little English 
dictionary contains a hundred thousand words, but all 
these are made up from about forty elements of sound, and 
the latter only have to be studied in order to make pro- 
nunciation uniform. 

You were about to say something, Mr. Dunlop ; we shall 
be happy to hear you. 

(Glasgow.) " I was just going to observe that there's a 
twang in Mr. Anderson's speech that shows he comes from 
Edinburgh. Now, it's strange that we have nothing of the 
sort in Glasgow." 

W hy, you have just illustrated the Glasgow twang, which 
is quite as marked as that of Edinburgh, although it is very 
different. Your ear is accustomed to it, and therefore you 
are not conscious of its peculiarity, while you immediately 
detect another twang simply by its diversity from your own. 

" Ay ! What is the Glasgow twang? " 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 175 



There is in every dialect a prevailing melody, consisting 
of repetitions either of the same tone or of the same in- 
tervals of tone ; and this is the most marked feature in all 
dialects. The Glasgow tune consists of repetitions of fall- 
ing tones with a very acute commencement, to which the 
voice is jerked up on every accent. The Edinburgh tune 
consists of terminal rising tones with a very limited and 
gliding ascent ; and the farther north you go in Scotland 
the rising tones become more and more acute, until, in 
Aberdeen, the voice is jerked as high in the terminations 
of tones as in Glasgow it is jerked up at their commence- 
ment. 

" I would like to understand the tune you speak of. You 
say the Glasgow tones have a high commencement ? " 

I think if you pronounce these last words again, slowly 
and observingly, you will yourself be conscious of this. 
Repeat the same words. 

" The Glasgow tones have a high commencement." 

Yes ; and the Aberdeen tones have a high termination, 
and consequently a relatively low commencement. 

(Aberdeen?) " Perhaps if I read a little bit it may illustrate 
the Aberdonian tune." 

Thank you, Mr. Grant ; no doubt it will. 

" Then say not man's imperfect, heaven in fault, 
Say, rather, man's as perfect as he ought ; 
His knowledge measured to his state and place, 
His time a moment, and a point his space." 

Now, if Mr. Dunlop will please to read a couple of lines 
of the same passage the contrast will show very clearly the 
difference between these dialectic tunes. 

(Glasgow.) "Then say not man's imperfect," etc. 

Perhaps Mr. Anderson will oblige us with his version of 
the same lines. 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 



(Edinburgh!) " Then say not man's imperfect," etc. 

Thank you. The only difficulty in correcting these pe- 
culiarities arises from the insensibility of the ear to the 
melody to which it is accustomed. Diversities of tune are 
infinite, but the elementary tones of which they are com- 
posed are few in number, and every ear may be made sen- 
sitive to these. Master the gamut, and then you can an- 
alyse the tune and learn to regulate intonation by principle 
instead of habit. 

{Irish!) " Excuse me, but I don't see how there can be 
any principle in tones, when we all of us use them so dif- 
ferently, and yet perfectly understand each other." 

Mr. O'Brien's observation is a very natural one. Vernac- 
ular speech is altogether a habit, and wc learn it by imita- 
tion without any perception of the laws of expression, which, 
nevertheless, have a real existence. Although these laws 
are so variously violated in dialects, yet all diversities vanish 
before excitement and people of every nationality, dialect 
and language, express their passions by one common instinct 
of natural intonation. But we want to be natural without 
the necessity of getting into a passion for the purpose. 
To this end, we must investigate and apply the principles 
of natural expression. 

(Irish.) " People tell me that I have what they call a 
brogue. Does it arise from my way of pronouncing, or from 
my tones, or what is it they refer to ? " 

Something unmistakably Hibernian, at all events. I pre- 
sume Mr. Dunlop will recognise this more readily than he 
did the Glasgow twang. 

(Glasgow.) " O, yes; I begin to see the thing a little 
now. A brogue is just a — a sort of a twang." 

(Edinburgh.) " Ay, mh'm ; and a twang, ye maun mind, 
is just a sort of a brogue." 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 177 

(Aberdeen.) " In Aberdeen they ca' them a' brogues the- 
gither." 

Well, Mr. O'Brien, to answer your question. In the 
Irish dialects we hear a great variety of speech-tunes, and 
yet we recognise among them all a something which they 
have in common, which we call a brogue. The brogue is, 
therefore, primarily, a characteristic of pronunciation. 
The Irish consonants do not open sharply on the vowels, 
but between the elements there is a slight hiatus with a 
more or less perceptible aspiration that softens the transi- 
tion, and makes t sound like s, p like /, etc* Then nearly 
all unaccented vowels are pronounced alike ; that is, with- 
out any difference between <z, <?, z, etc. If Mr. O'Brien 
will read a few lines, we shall probably hear these points 
exemplified. 

{Irish.) " I cannot, my lords, I will not, join in congratulation on 
misfortune and disgrace. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous 
moment. It is not a time for adulation j the smoothness of flattery 
cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to 
instruct the throne in the language of truth." 

Thank you. You would observe — at least all but Mr. 
O'Brien would probably observe — that in the words, " mis- 
fortune, perilous, tremendous, crisis, necessary, language," 
etc., the unaccented syllables were all alike in sound. With 

reference to the tones I beg your pardon, Mr. Jones, 

yo\~. were about to say something. 

( Welsh.) " I was just going to ask if the tones of Mr. 
O'Brien's reading were not chiefly falling tones, and yet 
very unlike the Glasgow ones ? " 

You are perfectly right. The prevailing tone was a 
simple downward turn, but without the high pitch which 
characterises the West-Scottish dialects. Since you seem 



12 



178 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



to have a good ear, can you discover the key-note of your 
own speech ? Let us hear you read a few lines. 

{Welsh.) "The great pursuit of man is happiness; it is the first 
and strongest desire of his nature ; in every stage of life he searches 
for it as for hidden treasure, and though perpetually disappointed still 
persists, and runs after and inquires for it afresh." 

Thank you. Do you recognise any predominant tone ? 

" I can hardly be positive ; for it seems to be always up 
and down, up and down." 

You have expressed the characteristic more accurate" y 
than you intended. The tones of speech either go directly 
up, as in the north and east of Scotland, or directly down, 
as in Ireland and the west of Scotland, or they turn from 
one to the other direction, and go down and up, or up and 
down, on a single accent. Your dialectic tone is the com- 
bined " up and down," or compound fall. But the Welsh 
dialect, as you illustrate it, has other and stronger pecu- 
liarities, arising from a general staccato pronunciation of 
syllables, and from the non-vocality of certain consonants, 
so that v sounds like /, d like t, j like ch, etc. 

" I know that Shakespeare makes Parson Evans say 
6 fery coot,' with / and c instead of v and g, but that, I 
should suppose, is a caricature." 

It exactly represents your own mode of pronouncing such 
letters. Let us hear you say, by way of test, " We should 
sound v and g in the words ' very good.' " 

" We should sound v and g in the words ' very good.' " 

There ; you have proved the accuracy of Shakespeare's 
orthography of Welsh. You must practise the defective 
sounds until you can clearly distinguish such words as 
"cease and seize, seal and zeal, proof and prove, choke and 
joke" — which now sound alike. I shall be glad if Mr. West 
will fc vour us next. 



A Shadow- Class of Students. 179 

{American.) " Well, I am very desirous to know all about 
my own way of speaking. I guess there is no want of 
vocality in my case." 

No ; you give the distinction between voiceless and 
vocalised elements with perfect clearness. But your dia- 
lectic habit presents peculiarities, both of tone and pro- 
nunciation. 

" My key-note, I suppose, is the opposite of Mr. Jones's 
— the combined down and up variety ? " 

Exactly so. But please to let us hear your ordinary 
style of reading. 

" Clearness, force and earnestness are the qualities which produce 
conviction. True eloquence does not consist in speech. Labour and 
learning may toil for it in vain. It must exist in the man, in the sub- 
ject, and in the occasion." 

Thank you. Your illustration has completed the gamut 
of radical varieties of tone forming the key-notes of dia- 
lects. The simple rise, predominant, is North-British , the 
simple fall, Irish ; the compound fall, Welsh ; the com- 
pound rise, American. But in your delivery we have, also, 
some characteristic vowel sounds, and a strong tinge of 
nasal quality. The vowel in the words earnestness, learn- 
ing, etc., is so peculiarly dialectic that it is even difficult of 
imitation by strangers. The sound is of very frequent 
occurrence, and always before the letter r. R itself, also, 
has a sound entirely different from that of the ordinary 
English element. 

" We certainly have a very strong objection to rolling 
our r's." 

Thank you for illustrating another variety of r in the 
word "very" — where the ris modified by the lips. This 
makes the American "very" very different from the Eng- 
lish word. But the habit of nasalising vowels is the most 



180 A Shadow-Class of Students. 

marked peculiarity. There are only three elements which 
legitimately have a nasal sound — namely, m, n and ng — 
and it is in combination with these that vowels are nasal- 
ised in America. 

" O, then, it is only when combined with a nasal conso 
nant ? " 

Chiefly so. But as m, n and ng occur very frequently, 
and as vowels both before and after them are affected, the 
whole of speech is tinged with nasality. This quality is 
also rendered " prominent " by a fulness and "prolonga- 
tion " of " sound " which adds greatly to the effect. 

" We might justify that by saying that the nose is really 
the most prominent of our features." 

Yes ; but it should keep in its own place, and not go 
poking about through all the parts of speech. 

" Is there no mode of compelling the voice to keep out 
of the nose, and go straight through the mouth ? " 

The only true method is to teach the ear to discriminate 
a purely oral sound. 

(Obstructed Nasals.) " You spoke of the sounds of m, n 
and ng as being legitimately nasal. What is wrong with 
my pronunciation of these sounds ? " 

The soft-palate at the back of the mouth covers the inner 
end of the nostrils like a valve for all sounds that are not 
nasalised, and it leaves the passage open for nasal sounds. 
In your case, the voice, though it gets into the nose, can- 
not get out through it, owing to some constriction or ob- 
struction in the passage. The same effect is produced by 
a " cold in the head," and sometimes by causes requiring a 
surgical operation ; but, in most cases, the nasal channel is 
susceptible of expansion by an effort of will, and the defect 
can be remedied by exercise. T,et us hear you try to pro- 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 181 

long the sounds of the nasals. Say, " CoMe, JohN, you've 
beeN a loNG tiMe goNe." 

" Come, John, you've been a long time gone." 

That is very faulty. Say " coMe " as long as you can. 

" CoMe." 

Ah ! the rush of breath through the nose proves that 
you can sufficiently open the passage. Give pure voice to 
the nasals, instead of mere breath, and they will soon be 
perfect. I shall be glad to hear your voice, Mr. Jenkins-. 

(North- English.) " I have been listening powerfully, 
though I mayn't have much to say." 

I perceive your peculiarities are merely provincialisms. 
Let us hear a few lines of reading. 

"Tell me not in mournful numbers, 

Life is but an empty dream ; 
For the soul is dead that slumbers, 

And things are not what they seem. 

Life is real, life is earnest, 

And the grave is not its goal ; 
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

Was not spoken of the soul." 

Thank you. The organs of speech get set — like instru- 
ments tuned to various keys — so as to yield sounds that 
individually differ but little, while their aggregate effect is 
strongly characteristic. Your North-English dialect abounds 
in minute variations of the vowel sounds, which a touch 
on a peg, here and there, would bring into unison with 
standard sounds. 

If we now have a few lines from a gentleman with a 
South- English habit, it should present a contrast to our last 

example. I think I am right in pointing to you, Mr. . 

Favour me with the name. 

" All." 



182 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



I beg pardon. 
" AH — H a 1 1 ." 

O, thank you ; I should have spelt the sound somewhat 
differently. 

" Shall I read from the same poem ? " 
If you please. 

"Art is long and time is fleeting, 

And our hearts though stout and brave, 
Still like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave." 

That will be enough. Of all the peculiarities of speech, 
the perversity in the use of the aspirate which you exhibit 
is the most unaccountably strange. Where h is written, as 
in " heart," you entirely omit the effect ; and where h is not 
written, as in " art," you distinctly pronounce it. The 
habit only requires a little observation to overcome it. In 
the vowel sounds, as given by Mr. Jenkins, there was a 
general closeness of quality ; and in your pronunciation, 
Mr. Hall, there is an equally general openness ; as in the 
word "drums," which you widened almost to " drahms," 
while Mr. Jenkins would narrow it nearly to " drooms," 
and Mr. Anderson would deepen it to " druhms." The 
sound of tf, as you pronounce it in the word " grave," 
scarcely differs from *. All such deviations from standard 
sounds are perfectly susceptible of the most exact rectifi- 
cation. 

(Burr.) " Can anything be done for burring ? In my 
native district everybody burrs. We keep each other in 
countenance at home, but among strangers it is very dis- 
agreeable to be singular." 

Burring, Mr. Rogers, is merely the vibration of the uvula, 
instead of the point of the tongue. The one action is 
quite as easy as the other. There is nothing to hinder 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 183 

you from substituting the lingual for the uvular rattle on 
any day when you resolutely apply yourself to the work. 
Some persons have the bad taste to prefer the guttural r; 
in some districts of France, as well as of England, the 
prevalent form of r is what we call the burr. The sound is 
only to be reckoned a defect when the speaker uses it not 
from choice, but from inability to pronounce correctly. 

{French.) " I have been some years in learning English, 
and I cannot yet pronounce some letters. It is a language 
very hard." 

You have certainly good reason for thinking so, Mr. 
Laplace, but such is not really the fact. The points in 
which foreigners fail are susceptible of easy elementary 
correction, and the difficulty so generally experienced 
arises simply from this — that no elementary correction has 
been applied. A few days of proper training would do 
more than years of imitative effort. There is no reason 
why every national characteristic in the utterance of any 
language should not be mastered by a foreigner as per- 
fectly as by one to the manner born. Will you read a 
few lines ? 

" There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 

There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
There is society where none intrudes, 

By the deep sea, and music in its roar." 

Go on, please. 

' I love not man the less, but nature more, 

From these our interviews, in which I steal 
From all I may be, or have been before, 
To mingle with the Universe, and feel 
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal." 

Thank you. We have here an illustration of peculiari- 
ties so wide-spread as to extend to every phrase, although 



184 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



arising from the mispronunciation of only seven or eight 
elements, and mainly from a habit of accentuation at vari- 
ance with English usage. Nothing could more strikingly 
show what creatures of habit we are, than the difficulty 
experienced by an intelligent student, like Mr. Laplace, in 
discontinuing an accustomed style, and adapting his organs 
to new actions and combinations. Every child of three 
or four years of age accomplishes with ease what baffles 
the strong efforts of manhood. The reason is, that the 
child has nothing to unlearn ; he has only to learn, and 
unlearning is by far the harder task, on account of the 
opposing influence of habit. But the child's process of 
learning will be equally successful with the adult student. 

The child gradually acquires element by element, and 
practises each within his little vocabulary until it is perfect 
in the few words at his command. He has not that fatal 
facility which tempts the adult learner to run when he 
should only walk or creep. Let Mr. Laplace confine his 
efforts to the defective elements, one by one, in a very few 
words, and practise English accentuation in a very few 
sentences, and the period of his labour will be measured by 
days instead of years, while its end will be success instead 
of failure. 

" Will you please to point out the elements in which I 
am defective ? " 

The principal peculiarity, and that which colours the 
whole of your utterance, is accentual ; as in 

elements 7 instead of elements. 

pleasure' " " pleas'ure. 

society' " " society. 

music 7 " " mu'sic. 

nature 7 " " na'ture. 

cannot 7 u " can'not. 



A Shadow- Class of Students. 185 

This affects all words or phrases which should be accented 
elsewhere than at the end ; the habit of your pronuncia- 
tion throwing the accent invariably on the last syllable. 

" I must then exercise myself on the accents which are 
initial ? " 

Yes ; until you can deliver ■ a set of model words and 
phrases " trippingly on the tongue," as our Shakespeare 
happily illustrates the English habit. 

" Ha; ' trippingly' on the ton'gue.' " 

No ; " trip'pingly-on-the-tongue," with only one accent. 

"Ah ! ' trippingly 7 on the t : ' it is too tripping to me." 

A few vowel sounds will also require your attention ; 
such as in tongue, love, done, (not to7igue, love, done*) ; in 
it, is, him, (not it, is, him) ; in man, (not man) ; all, (not 
all) ; universe, (not universe) ; exercise, (not exercise). 

Then there is another element foreign to your habit of 
utterance — namely, the sound at the end of the words 
mingle, able, apple, little, etc. 

" I will try — mingle, able, apple, little." 

No ; it is strange that this little syllable is rarely mastered 
by your countrymen. But understand clearly the source 
of the difficulty. The syllable contains no vowel; it is 
simply the sound of the letter / pronounced by itself. 
Knowing this fact, you should not fail to acquire the knack 
perfectly within a few minutes. 

(American.) " Well, if all faults could be got rid of at that 
rate, it would be good news for some people I know." 

(Edinburgh.) " More haste less speed, though, sometimes." 

(Glasgow.) " I can see that when faults are classified and 
corrected separately, a great deal may be done in a little 
time." 



* The differences in the pronunciation of these words (and in several other illustra- 
tions throughout this section) cannot be shown in Rdfnan letters. 



i86 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 



First, there must be well-directed effort, then persever- 
ance will conquer infallibly. 

{Irish.) " It seems to me to be like unraveling a tangled 
thread ; it is very hard to get a beginning." 

A just simile, Mr. O'Brien* and true in another sense — 
namely, that every little that is done makes all the rest 
easier. 

Mr. Turner, will you favour us with a few lines ? 

{Sing- Song.) 

' ' Shine on thou bright beacon unclouded and free, 
From thy high place of calmness, o'er life's troubled sea." 

Thank you; that is enough. Will you try a piece of 
prose ? 

"These are changes which may happen in a single instant of time, 
and against which nothing known in the present system of things pro- 
vides us with any security." 

That will do. You have acquired a most unfortunate 
habit — one which is incompatible with a discriminating ear, 
and which, therefore, cannot be easily corrected. But you 
should correct it at any cost of effort. The example of 
such reading is pernicious to the imitative sensibility of the 
young. Tones have a meaning, and there should always 
be a reason instinctively felt or intellectually deduced, for 
the employment of one tone rather than another. In your 
case, the phrases of melody follow each other like tunes 
from a barrel-organ, to which you — excuse the pun, Mr. 
Turner — are only handle-turner. Study the gamut; and 
in reading take no thought of sentences or metrical lines, 
or you will never get out of the old ruts. 

{Lisp.) u Is it the case that lisping arises from the 
tongue's being too large for the mouth ? Some people 
have said that my tongue is a misfit, and, consequently, 
that I can't help lisping." 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 187 



Those who told you so knew nothing about the matter. 
Any person can lisp, and any lisper can with very little 
trouble avoid lisping. But there are many varieties of this 
defect. Let us hear yours in a few lines of reading. 

"Alone, through gloomy forest-shades a soldier went by night; 
No moonbeam pierced the dusky glades, no star shed guiding light ; 
Yet on his vigil's midnight round the youth all cheerly passed, 
Unchecked by aught of boding sound that muttered in the blast." 

A single hour's exercise should give you the power of 
forming s correctly. Then a few days' careful practice 
will break the old habit, and your lisp will be a thing of 
the past. 

(S like Welsh 11.) " My defect, I suppose, must be of a 
different sort, though, I believe, it is also called lisping. I 
hope it is susceptible of as easy a cure. Shall I read a 
few lines ? " 

If you please, Mr. Smith. 

" Warriors and chiefs, should the shaft or the sword 
Pierce me when leading the hosts of the Lord ? 
Heed not the corse, though a king's, in your path, 
Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath." 

The removal of your defect presents no difficulty. The 
difference between your lisp and Mr. — I beg pardon ; I 
forget the name — 

" Simpson." 

— between your lisp and Mr. Simpson's is simply this,— 
that you form the hiss at the sides of the tongue, while 
Mr. Simpson forms his at the tip of the tongue. The 
shades of difference in hisses are innumerable ; but uni- 
formity may be easily attained. In forming s, the point 
of the tongue must not touch teeth, gum or palate, or a 
lisp of some kind will be produced. 



188 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



(Thick Articulation.) " I have been mentally trying to 
find out what I do with my tongue, but it doesn't seem 
to move much at all." 

It does not. That is the cause of your thickness of 
speech, Mr. — excuse me — 

"Patullo." 

Mr. Patullo. Your tongue lies against the lower teeth, 
and the actions that should be made by the raised point 
are imperfectly imitated by the flat surface of the tongue. 
There is sometimes an organic cause for this defect. 
Allow me to see if you are tongue-tied. Open your 
mouth. 

" I can't speak with my mouth open." 

No ; but if you can touch the roof of your mouth with 
your tongue, that is enough. Try. There ; you have no 
need of any operation. A habit contracted in infancy — 
the attitude of suction, in fact — has simply remained un- 
corrected in the nursery and the school — where it ought 
to have disappeared — and you must do the work for your- 
self. " Better late than never." 

(Burr and Nasal L.) " I am very sensible of something 
peculiar in my speech, and I should be glad to know if it 
is capable of correction. I find the letters r and /, / es- 
pecially, complete stumbling-blocks." 

Habit is the only stumbling-block, Mr. Lawrence. Your 
organs can be trained to make r and / in the common 
way. At present, you merely substitute one part of the 
mouth for another ; you make a guttural vibration for r — 
as Mr. Rogers does in his dialectic burring ; and you 
sound / through the nose, pronouncing, in fact, ng for /. 
There is no organic cause for your defects. Let us hear 
if any other letters are affected besides r and /. Please to 
read a few lines. 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 189 



" Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll ; 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; 
Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 
Stops with the shore ; upon the watery plain 
The wrecks are all thy deed — " 

Thank you ; that will do. All the other elements are 
satisfactorily pronounced. A little care and energy will 
soon free your speech from its blemishes. 

{Cleft-palate.) " I wish with all my heart that you could 
say as much for my defects ; but I have no hope of such a 
verdict." 

No, unfortunately ; your case is one of organic defect. 
An opening exists in your palate, through which the breath 
passes into the nostrils ; and you cannot give percussive- 
ness to consonants. P, t and k are impossible of forma- 
tion unless the mouth is air-tight. If you read a short 
passage you will observe the substitution which you make 
for the ordinary effect of these letters. 

" I don't like to read before so many people ; I am 
afraid they'll laugh at me." 

O, no ; depend upon it. If they laugh they don't do it 
at your misfortune. Laughing will do them good, and it 
won't hurt you. Go on. 

"To be or not to be ? That is the question ; 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles 
And by opposing end them." 

Can you tell how you pronounce the letter p ? 

" By holding in my breath and closing the lips." 

Exactly; but you hold in the breath by closing the 
throat, and you do the same for /, k and all letters which 
require the breath to be shut within the mouth. If you 
pinch the nostrils and do not hold in the breath at the 



190 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



throat, you will find that you can pronounce p perfectly. 
Try to say, " Peter Piper's peacock." 

" ' Peter Piper's peacock.' " 

Yes ; but with the nostrils held. 

" ' Peter Piper's peacock,' — why that's clear. Would 
you recommend me to keep my hand there always, in 
speaking ? " 

No ; you would require to remove it every time you came 
to an m, an 71, or an ng } so that your hand would be pretty 
actively employed. A better remedy is available. A skil- 
ful dentist can fit a plate over the fissure, which will enable 
you, after a little instruction, to speak without peculiarity. 

(Stutter?) " I once had Peter Piper given to me as an 
exercise, but it didn't do me any good." 

Lasting benefit in cases of stuttering, like yours, Mr. 
Manter, is only to be obtained through knowledge of 
principles, and by self-mastery in their application. Diffi- 
cult alliterations, like " Peter Piper's peacock," are often of 
service to fix a principle, but the exercise without the prin- 
ciple might even do harm rather than good. 

The instiument of speech, like a flute, has one part 
where sound is created and other parts where sound is 
modified. Imagine a flutist working with his fingers on the 
keys, while making no sound at the mouth-hole, and you 
have a perfect analogue to the stutterer's repetitions of 
mouth-actions without voice. 

" B-but the voice won't come." 

Suppose you wish to leave the room, and, instead of 
opening the door, keep shutting it ; of course you 
can't get out. This is precisely what you do uncon- 
sciously, in your efforts to speak. The actions of the 
mouth impede the flow of sound when they should only 
modify it. 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 191 

" I have tried p- pebbles in my mouth, — and swallowed 
one." 

Then you took the medicine internally. If the swal- 
lowed one did you no harm, the masticated one certainly 
did you no good. There is no such difficulty in bringing 
the organs of speech under control, as might justify a 
resort to these clumsy expedients. The tongue is not an 
unruly member in a mechanical sense, whatever it may 
be morally. " Knowledge is power." Get the requisite 
knowledge, and you may soon rejoice in freedom from 
stuttering. 

" I wish to inquire — " 

Please to pause a moment, Mr. Perkins ; I perceive one 
of our friends trying to say something, but he is unable to 
make a beginning. Try again, Mr. Locke. Take your 
time. We shall wait for you. 

{Stammer^ "I am not always so bad. It makes me 
nervous to speak before strangers." 

I suppose you have no difficulty in talking or reading 
to yourself ? 

« N— n— ." 

No. That is a common feature in the worst impedi- 
ments. A better proof, however, could not be furnished 
that there is no organic cause for the inability to speak. 
But it is very tantalising that the presence of a mere infant, 
or sometimes even of a cat, in the room, should render 
one powerless. 

" I — it's all nervousness." 

There you labour under a common mistake. Nervous- 
ness is the result and not the cause of stammering. As 
you gain power in overcoming the habit, the nervousness 
subsides ; but stammering does not subside under any 



192 A Shadow-Class of Students. 

course of tonics for the nerves. You feel a choking sen- 
sation when you attempt to speak, do you not ? 
" Y— y— ." 

Yes. You illustrate the point in the act of answering. 
A false instinct leads you to close your throat when you 
would form sound. This is the characteristic in which 
stammering differs from the kindred impediment called 
" stuttering." The latter interrupts voice by mouth-actions ; 
the former prevents the formation of voice by closing the 
throat at the very seat of sound. This deranges respira- 
tion ; and nature seeks relief in spasmodic jerks of head, 
or trunk, or limbs, until the unknown obstacle is forced 
away, and breath gasps in, or sound spurts out. 

Now, Mr. Perkins — 

" Mr. Locke has something more to say, which he is 
writing, as he cannot manage to speak." 

I shall wait for the note. Thank you. 

" Stammering runs in my family. My grandfather was 
as bad as I am, till he had passed middle age; and my uncle 
and one of my cousins are both stammerers. Does not 
this make my case hopeless ? " 

By no means. Nothing is more natural than that stam- 
mering should affect members of the same family, exposed 
as they are to the influence of example. But the impedi- 
ment is not a disease of the blood ; it is, like all modes of 
speech, a habit, and is continually liable to spread by im- 
itation. Do not let a fear of hereditary entailment prevent 
you from working out your own relief. Proceed con- 
fidently, and you will find that you can break the entail. 
Now, Mr. — 

(Irish.) " Excuse me, but I should like to make a single 
observation before you take up any new point. I wish to 
say that I am not ashamed of my nationality, and that I 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 193 



would not regret although I wore it continually on my 
tongue." 

( Welsh.) " Well, I would like to add that I am not only 
not ashamed, but that I am proud to be a Welshman." 

{Edinburgh.) " Ay, Mr. Dunlop and Mr. Grant, I sup- 
pose if it were necessary to boast, you and I would not 
hang our heads at being Scotchmen." 

[Glasgow.) " I don't want to drag my coat as a chal- 
lenge to anybody ; but I am thankful that I hail from old 
Caledonia." 

{Aberdeen.) " And I am thankful for the additional 
honour of being an Aberdonian." 

{North- English) " Nay, clannishness is all very well 
among old acquaintances, but it gives no ground for pub- 
lic liking or disliking. We've nought to do wi't, outside 
our own homes." 

{American.) " Certainly, it is of no consequence where 
we hail from ; the point is where we are going to, and that 
should be to unanimity in citizenship." 

Hear, hear. Now, at last, Mr. Perkins; I am sorry that 
you have been interrupted. 

" The point on which I Was going to ask for advice 
seems very unimportant in comparison with stammering 
and stuttering. I have been called on sometimes to give 
an address, or to recite at social gatherings, and I don't 
know what to do with my arms." 

The difficulty is a common one. It arises from a feeling 
that the arms must always be doing something. But if the 
arms, why not the legs, why not the head ? A speaker's 
model would then be a jumping-jack. The grand rule is, 
have a reason for every motion, and never move merely 
for moving's sake. 



*3 



194 A Shadow-Class of Students. 

" But how is a novice to discover a reason for every 
motion, or to know that his supposed reason is a sufficient 
one ? " 

The object of gesture is not to communicate ideas — 
which is the province of words — but to illustrate and en- 
force the sentiment of language. Any reason that is con- 
sistent with this object is a sufficient one, and any motion 
or attitude that subserves this purpose is a justifiable one. 
Let us come from theory to practice. 
Take this line : 

"The shades of night were falling fast — " 
Let us see how you would illustrate that, Mr. Perkins. 

"The shades of night were falling fast — " 
(American^ " That seems to me to be rather slow falling. 
I should make it : 

"The shades of night were falling fast — " 
Any other suggestion ? 

(Irish.) " Well, I never saw the shades of night falling 
in either the one way or the other." 

That goes to the root of the matter, Mr. O'Brien. The 
words sufficiently convey the idea, and any action, even if 
it were perfectly congruous, is unnecessary. 

Take this couplet, Mr. Perkins : 

"The moon was shining bright and high, 
The torches gleamed below — " 

" I should point up to the moon, and down to the 
torches." 
Why? 

" Because the one is high and the others are low." 

That is the very reason why you should not illustrate the 
fact by gesture. The relation of high and low is directly 
stated ; but even were it not mentioned it would be inferred 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 195 

in connection with " moon " and " torches." The only 
action allowable in such a case would be the location of 
the objects spoken of to the right or left of or around the 
speaker, as might suit his imaginary picture. 

" Then you lay down the principle that nothing which 
is directly stated, or of necessity inferred, is to be illustrated 
by gesture ? " 

Exactly so ; and, by consequence, all those picturings of 
words and imitations of actions, which are so common 
among speakers — such as showing that a wheel is round, 
that right and left are on opposite sides, or that stamping, 
smiting or pushing are accomplished in the usual way — 
are redundant and improper. 

(Glasgow.) " But yet it seems very natural to do what 
you say." 

Yes ; to exhibit the feeling that prompts the action, but 
not to imitate the action itself. Imitation excites laughter, 
and is, therefore, appropriate for comic illustration ; on the 
same account, it is inappropriate in serious delivery. 

Nothing is more effective than illustrating what you are 
going to say — that is, in advance of the utterance ; for the 
order of expression is action first, language last. When 
an illustration accompanies language, it degenerates into 
mimicry ; when it follows utterance it is altogether un- 
natural. 

(Edinburgh.) " Then if you do what you say, you must 
do it before you say it ? " 

Yes, unless the action is intended to be ludicrous. 

(French.) " In France we demonstrate with gesture 
everything." 

Yes, but every turn of the hand and every shrug of the 
should rs is expressive of some passing mood. The na- 
tional temperament shows itself in vivacity of action, just 



196 A Shadow-Class of Students. 



as among individuals in the most phlegmatic nation some 
use a " dialect " of gesture more than others. 

(American.) " The American Indians don't indulge in 
gesture,* I suppose, because it would reveal their moods too 
clearly, and they don't want to ; they find it easier to con- 
ceal their thoughts by words." 

Very likely that may be the reason of their remarkable 
stolidity. English speakers occupy a middle place between 
the grave Indians and the mercurial French. Using but 
little action, they have the greater need to make that little 
chaste, correct and natural. 

" I think I see my way a little more clearly to avoid my 
old difficulty." 

(Aberdeen.') " Perhaps there may be some other general 
principles that might help us." 

The most important are only two : (I) always look stead- 
ily at the person spoken to ; and (II) glance momentarily 
at any object spoken of. These principles are both illus- 
trated in this line — 

" ' Go on, my friend,' he cried, 'see yonder walls.' " 

The eye is kept on the " friend," while the hand shows the 
direction in which he is urged to go on. The words " he 
cried " are addressed to the audience, and the eye returns 
to the "friend" on the word "see;" merely glancing at 
the "walls" on the word "yonder." 

" ' Go on, my friend,' he cried, ' see yonder walls ; 
Advance and conquer, go where glory calls.' " 



* This refers to gesture as an accompaniment to speech. The ges- 
t iire-language described by Col. ( iarrick Mallory is pantomimic ami 
independent of speech. The fact of (almost) gestureless oratory 
among the Indians is drawn from the author's personal observation in 
the Council House of the Six Nation Indians, Ontario, Canada. 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 197 

( Welsh.) " You spoke of disposing objects to right or 
left of the speaker, as might suit his imaginary picture. 
Please explain." 

Every object introduced by gesture should be a real 
presence to the speaker ; and, therefore, the various objects 
must be located so as to make up a consistent picture. 
An example will illustrate the principle and show its im- 
portance 

" Scaling yonder peak 
I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow — ." 

We must point to the peak — where shall we put it? 
The attitude of an archer has afterwards to be assumed, in 
act to shoot the eagle ; and if the peak were located on 
the speaker's right, the archer's position would be extremely 
awkward, as it would turn the speaker's back to the au- 
dience. By assuming the peak to be on the left side, all 
awkwardness is avoided. Thus : 

" Scaling yonder peak, 

I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow 

O'er the abyss ; his broad expanded wings 

Lay calm and motionless upon the air, 

As if he floated there without their aid, 

By the sole act of his unlorded will 

That buoyed him proudly up. Instinctively 

I bent my bow, yet kept he rounding still 

His airy circle, as in the delight 

Of measuring the ample range beneath 

And round about ; absorbed, he heeded not 

The death that threatened him. I could not shoot ; 

'Twas Liberty. I turned my bow aside, 

And let him soar away." 

Campbell's poem of " Hohenlinden " furnishes another 
good example : 

" 'Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun 
Can pierce the war-clouds rolling dun." 



198 A Shadow-Class of Students. 

In the previous part of the poem the battle has been 
represented as raging on a hill — " Linden " — where, of 
course, the war-clouds must now be located ; and the sun 
cannot be on the same side of the speaker's picture, because 
it is " level " or on the horizon. 

One other illustration : 

" Look to the weather-bow ; breakers are round thee ; 
Let fall the plummet now ; shallows may ground thee ; 
Reef in the foresail there — " 

These objects all belonging to the forepart of a ship 
should be located on the same side of a speaker's picture ; 
the remainder of the verse, referring to the stern of the 
ship, should have its action on the opposite side. 

" Reef in the foresail there, hold the helm fast, 
So ! Let the vessel ware. There swept the blast ! " 

{Burr and Nasal LJ) " Is it desirable to commit to 
memory all the actions of a speech as well as the words ? " 

No ; that is far from being necessary or desirable. Only 
the outlines of the pictures should be pre-arranged so as to 
obviate incongruities ; the details of action will always be 
most effective when filled in from the impulse of the 
moment. 

( Welsh.) " But our own impulses may possibly be as 
faulty in gesture as they are in speaking." 

If they are so, that will simply show the necessity of 
training. Some knowledge of principles ought to precede 
any attempt at public delivery. 

(Glasgow.) "Am I right in concluding that, supposing 
we were all to deliver the same piece, we might give 
entirely different actions ? " 

Yes ; temperament, sensibility and skill have each free 
scope. With due preparation to bring the natural powers 



A Shadow-Class of Students. 199 

under control, every student should be left to his own im- 
pulses. The individual should always be above the artist — 
the master, not the slave of art. 

(Lisp.) " In the meantime, though, with all of us, the 
first thing necessary is to correct our faults. We can't be 
masters of art while we are slaves of habit." 

I need not add a word to Mr. Simpson's observation, 
that so justly sums up all I could desire to say: We can- 
not be the masters of art while we permit ourselves to be 
the slaves of habit. 



END. 



/ 



INDEX. 



A. p AGE . 

A, name-sound of English letter 12 

Aberdeen dialect (Scot) 175 

Accent 69-72 

Accent, a principal characteristic of English 17 

" American peculiarity of 18 

" on the completing word of a phrase 74 

" seat of, sometimes shifted 72 

Accentuation, effect of English habit of 18 

Action 93~95 

Action, the most far-reaching language 93 

" object and scope of 94 

" at the bar, in the pulpit, on the platform, on the stage. .. 94 

Acting and reading require different powers 132 

Advantage of reading sermons, lectures, etc 141 

Adverbs sometimes squint 81 

Affectation, a clerical 19 

All citizens interested in oratory 156 

An alphabet of orators ' 157-171 

Alphabet, physiological 35 

Alphabetic conference 34 

Alphabetics 33 - 36 

Amatory orator, The 157 

American and English vowels 13 

American dialect 179 

American-Indian oratory 196 

American peculiarity in the name-sound of u 22 

Analysis of a complex grammatical passage 82 

Anecdote of a tell-tale word 20 

An extra class of orators 171 

Antagonism between sacred and profane oratory 150 



202 



Index. 



Page. 

Archbishop Whately, observation of 49 

" " precept of 50 

Art and nature 51 

Articulating and vocalising organs separate 38, 190 

Articulation, syllabic, to be cultivated 15 

A SHADOW CLASS OF STUDENTS 1 73 _I 99 

Assertive language with various inflexions 45 

B. 

Bacchanalian orator, The 158 

Barristers, manner all-important to 99 

Brogue, Irish, a mode of consonant pronunciation 177 

Burr, or guttural r 182 

c. 

Catechising orator, The 158 

Chironomia, Austin's, an admirable book 27 

Changes of pitch required in every sentence 87 

" force analogous to light and shade 87 

" tone analogous to colour 87 

" time highly effective 88 

Change of -our to -or unphonetic 114 

Characteristics of conversational speech 8 

Class characteristics of delivery 97-101 

Class characteristics in oratory a reproach 134 

Clear enunciation the primary requisite in reading 145 

Cleft palate 189 

Clock-work pronunciation, its effects 89 

Common faults of emphasis 74 

Comparative frequency of hissing sounds 23 

Consonants, clusters of, require care 19 

" double, single in sound 16, 65 

" formation of 60 

Constructive varieties of sentences 45 

Conversational voice in oratory 7, 39 

D. 

Defects and impediments of srEEcu 103-111 

Defects of speech, organic 103 



Index. 203 

Page. 

Degeneracy of the stage 155 

Deliberate orator, The 159 

Delivery, class characteristics of 97 

Dependent and governing words 80 

Dialectic habits, persistence of 20 

Dialects have a prevailing melody 175 

Dialects out of place in public life 173 

Dictionary, Hyde Clarke's English 174 

" of the Philological Society 11 

Difference between pitch and inflection 43 

Diphthongal habit 14 

Divergence of American and English pronunciation 13 

Division of words into syllables 65 

Double consonants single in sound 16, 65 

Dramatic exhibitions fascinating 156 

Dull delivery like a beclouded landscape 153 

E. 

Earnestness the grand quality in delivery 101 

Edinburgh dialect (Scot) 173 

Effervescent orator, The 160 

Electioneering speaking, key-note of 98 

Elements of elocution, the true 101 

" which look alike in utterance 119, 120 

Elementary defects 108 

" " enumeration of 109 

" " how to obliterate in 

Elision of vowels 18, 67 

Elocution, definition of 41 

" science of I 

Elocutionary study, objects of 41 

Emphasis 73-76 

Emphasis, analysis of a difficult passage 75 

" a striking illustration of 73 

" common faults of 74 

" laws of 3, 73 

Emulation an ennobling principle 128 

English and American vowel sounds 13 



204 Index. 

Page. 

English phonetic elements 29-31 

English pronunciation 9-28 

Error in the use of the article an 21 

Essential parts of a sentence 80 

Excitement induces natural intonation 176 

Exercises for the. cure of stammering 107 

Expressive speech 87-91 

Expressiveness of elementary sounds 131 

Expressiveness of the vocal inflexions 2 

Extraordinary theory of elementary formation 26 

F. 

Facts and circumstances to be discriminated 145 

Faults in reading and speaking 7-8 

Fear, the worst feature of stammering 106 

Foppish orator, The 160 

Formation of consonants 60 

" voice 59 

" vowels 60 

Function of the pharynx in articulation 37-40 

Fundamental principles of vocal expression 47 

French-English dialect 183 

G. 

Galvanic orator, The 161 

Gesticulative pictures realities to the speaker 197 

Gesture a language 93 

" directions for the management of 194 

" imitative, when appropriate 4 

" proper use of 4 

Glasgow dialect (Scot) 174 

Governing and dependent words 80 

Grammatical analysis of a complex passage 82 

Grammatical perspicuity in reading 145 

Guttural r, or burr 182 

II 

II, English perversity in use of 24, 182 

II, when pronounced and when silent 24 



Index. 205 

Page. 

Habitual defects are occasional excellencies 90 

Hamlet's advice to the players 129 

Hemming orator, The 161 

Hissing sounds, comparative frequency of 23 

Hood's "Song of the Shirt" 90 

"House" oratory, requisites for 98 

How to obliterate elementary defects ill 

I. 

Imagination the best artist 143 

Imitation 123-134 

Imitation a debasing principle 128 

" advantages derived from 123 

" an instinct in childhood 143 

" as a reflector of ourselves 130 

" disadvantages resulting from 124 

" distinct from mimicry 131 

" to be repudiated in elocution 132 

" limitations of allowable 130 

" unconsciously exercised in speech 125 

Imitative aptitude, differences in 126 

" gesture, when appropriate 4 

" orator, The 161 

Imitators apt to copy blemishes 127 

Impediments and defects of speech 103 

Imperative language with various inflexions 46 

Inaudible speech, reading of, from the mouth , 119 

Individual, the, should be above the artist 1 99 

Inflexion, sources of variety in 53 

" double-compound, or wave 55 

Inflexions, compound, suggest contrast 54 

" meaning of 2, 55 

Instrument of speech, The 57 

Intelligibility the chief requisite in reading 144 

Intelligibility dependent on clear enunciation, grammatical perspi- 
cuity, logical modulation 144 

Intentional obscurity in writing, etc 144 

International physiological letters 115, 145 



2o6 



Index. 



Page 

Interrogative language with various inflexions 46 

Irish dialect 176 

J. 

Jaw, action of the 17, 27, 61 

Juvenile orator, The. 162 

K. 

Key-note of electioneering oratory 98 

Key-notes of dialects 179 

Key-words require phonetic interpretation 12 

L. 

L as a syllable 15, 67, 185 

L, sounds of, before u 21 

Ladies' orator, The 163 

Language, assertive with various inflexions 45 

Language dependent on tone 48 

" imperative with various inflexions 46 

" interrogative " " 46 

" relation of tones to 41 

Languages of action, speech, and tone 93 

Laws of emphasis 3, 73 

Lecturer, oratorical requirements of a 97 

" Letters and Sounds " — a phonetic method 115 

Limitations of allowable imitation 130 

" spelling reform 1 13, 117 

Lisping orator, The 163 

Lisps 187 

Logical divisions of sentences 3 

" modulation 146 

" reading, laws of 80 

Long and short, misleading terms 13 

Love, an inspiration of eloquence 157 

Lungs, how to replenish the 63, 108 

M. 

M as a syllable 67 

Manner and matter in oratory 151 



Index. 207 

Page. 

Manner a part of individuality 127 

" will not bear transplanting 128 

Meaningless intonation the result of neglect 154 

Melodious orator, The 164 

Melody of speech 33 

Mimicry distinct from imitation 131 

Monotonous orator, The 165 

Mouth, action of, in speech 17 

" requires opening before speech 27 

N. 

N as a syllable 15, 67 

Nasal / 188 

" orator, The 165 

" passage obstructed 180 

Natural tones specially called for in the pulpit 155 

Nature's gifts must be cultivated by art 156 

Nervousness the result of stammering 191 

North-English dialect 181 

o. 

O, name-sound of English letter 10 

Obstreperous orator, The 166 

Office of punctuation 2 

Oratorical words 79 

Orators, an alphabet of 157 

Oratory and orators 149-156 

Oratory, antagonism between sacred and profane 150 

" definition of 149 

" laborious preparations for 149 

Organic defects of speech 103 

Organs of speech, active and passive 59 

Origin of writing 136 

Orthographic changes in the right direction 113 

" " " wrong direction 114 

Orthography 1 13-1 1 7 



2o8 



Index. 



P- Page 

Pauses, real elements of poetic lines 89 

Perversity in the use of the aspirate 182 

Persistence of dialectic habits 20 

Pharynx, function of, in articulatton 37 

Philological society, dictionary of II 

Phonetic elements, scheme of English 29 

" interpretation of key-words 12 

" letters, Pitman and Ellis's 115 

" " a separate system of, desirable 115 

" method in " Letters and Sounds " 115 

Phonetic syllabication 65-68 

Phonetic use of Roman letters 115 

Physiological letters 115, 145 

Phraseological unity of inflexion 44 

Pitch and inflexion 43 

Platform speaking, requirements for 97 

Poe's poem of "The Bells" ^ 90 

Political orator, The 166 

Prejudice against sermon reading 140 

Principle, teaching by, less easy than by example 132 

Pronunciation of English 10 

Public readers, an intolerable class of 139 

" reading requires thorough preparation 140 

" speaking analogous to scene painting 8 

Pulpit and stage delivery compared 100 

Pulpit oratory, incitements to effectiveness in 99 

Punctuation, office of 2 

Q- 

Quintilian 95 

Quizzical orator, The 167 

R. 

R affects the sound of preceding vowels 12 

R at the end of a syllable 66 

Pending and acting require different powers 142 

Reading and readers 135-147 

Reading and speaking, faults in 7 



Index. 209 

Page. 

Reading man's distinguishing faculty 135 

" the chief of all arts 135 

" two forms of 137 

" when allowably mechanical 97 

" with sentient utterance 91 

Relation of tones to language 41 

Replenishment of the lungs 63, 108 

Reauisites for public speaking 8 

" public readers 142 

Respiration in speech 63-64 

Respiration, principles of 6 

" proper channels for 58, 63 

" sentential, an error 57 

Rhetorical orator, The 168 

Rhyme as affecting pronunciation 83-85 

Rhyme, vagaries of 84 

Rhymes without assonance 83 

Rhythm as affecting reading 77-82 

Rhythmical bars, illustration of 77 

Rhythm of speech dependent on accent 77 

" to be kept in subordination 89 

s. 

Science of elocution , 1 

Scheme of English phonetic elements 29 

Sentences, component parts of 80, 145 

" logical divisions of 3 

Sentential intonation 42 

Separation of organs essential to distinction 27 

Sermon reading 140 

Serial relations of English vowels 31 

Shadow class of students 173 

Shutting the eyes during delivery 140 

Sing-song 44, 105 

Small matters great in importance 95 

Smart's English dictionary 11 

Songs without words 38 

Sounds of a and before r 12 

" er, ir, yr 24 

14 



2IO 



Index. 



Page 

Sounds of / before u 21 

" s and sh 23 

" 71 after / and r 21 

" playing hide and seek with letters 10 

South-English dialect 181 

Speaking through the teeth 28 

Speech, limited in its sphere of influence 93 

" respiration in 63 

" the instrument of 57 

" the tones of 53 

" visibility of 119 

Spelling reform 113, 117 

Squinting adverbs 81 

Stage delivery 100, 132 

Stammering, characteristics of 104 

" cure of 106 

" not hereditary 107 

" exercises for the cure of 107 

" orator, The 169 

Stopped vowels 16 

Students, shadow-class of 173 

Stuttering, characteristics of 104 

" principles of cure of 105 

Syllabic articulation 15 

Syllabication, phonetic 65 

Syllable, a characteristic of a 66 

" definition of a 15 

T. 

Teaching by principle less easy than by example 132 

Teeth, speaking and singing through the 28 

Tennyson as a word painter 143 

The Amatory orator 157 

Bacchanalian orator 15S 

Catechising " 158 

Deliberate " 159 

Effervescent " 160 

Foppish " 160 



Index. 



211 



Page. 

The Galvanic orator 161 

" Hemming " 161 

" Imitative " 161 

" Juvenile " 162 

" Kneading " 163 

" Ladies' " 163 

" Lisping " 164 

" Melodious " 164 

" Monotonous " 165 

" Nasal " 165 

" Obstreperous " 166 

" Political " 166 

" Quizzical <e 167 

" Rhetorical " 168 

" Stammering " 169 

" Theatrical " 169 

" Vulgar " 170 

" Wriggling " 170 

" individual should be above the artist 199 

The instrument of speech 57-61 

The language of feeling everywhere the same 152 

The relation of tones to language 41-51 

The Science of Elocution 1-5 

The tones of speech 53-55 

Thick articulation 188 

Thought by thought the principle of reading 7 

Three languages simultaneously used in oratory 93 

" requirements for good reading 145 

Tones, gamut of, recommended for exercise 133 

Transplanted manner is affectation 128 

Tremor intensifies all expressions 90 

True elements of elocution 101 

Turner's indefiniteness in painting 144 

u. 

U, American peculiarity in name-sound of 22 

U, sounds of, after / and r 21 

Unaccented vowels apt to be elided 18 



212 



Index. 



Page 

Unity of inflexion in a phrase 44 

Unlearning more difficult than learning 184 

V. 

Vernacular speech altogether a habit 176 

Visibility of speech 119-121 

Visible speech 115, 145 

Vocal expression, fundamental principles of 2, 47 

Vocalizing and articulating organs, separate 38 

Voice, formation of 59 

Vowels, designations of 10 

" English and American 13 

" formation of 60 

" serial relations of 31 

Vulgar orator, The 170 

w. 

Welsh dialect 1 78 

Wh, the non- vocal form of w 23 

Wind, pronunciation of noun and verb 83 

Word, anecdote of a tell-tale 20 

Words, adopted foreign, pronunciation of 25 

" are pictures 9 

" governing and dependent 80 

" logical collocation of, illustrated 79 

" " " " violated 78 

Wriggling orator, The 171 

Writing, origin of 136 

Written and spoken words 138 

Y. 

Y, non -vocal sound of 24 

Y, sound of, difficult after certain consonants 21 



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warded, post-free, on receipt of price, by the Publisher, or by the Author. 



WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS VOLUME. 



LINE WRITING. 

XIV. 8vo, Stiff Covers, Price 75 Cents. 

UNIVERSAL LINE WRITING AND STENO-PHONOGRAPHY. 

On the basis of the Inaugural Edition of Visible Speech. This 
Work consists of the following sections : 

I, English Vernacular and Orthoepic Line Writing for use in schools. 
II. Universal Line-Alphabet for Languages, Telegraphy, etc. 

III. Universal Line-Alphabet for embossed printing for the blind. 

IV. Elliptical Steno-phonography, applicable to all languages, and 
fully developed for English. 

V. English Reporting Steno-phonography. 

The above sections are also issued separately in 

Paper Covers, Price 15 Cents Each. 



New Development of Line Writing. 

XV. 8vo, Paper Covers, Price 60 Cents. 

ENGLISH LINE WRITING. 

On the basis of "Sounds and their Relations." 
In this Work the Line-Alphabet is applied to English in two forms : 

I. Partially Phonetic — an introductory method for children. 

II. Exactly Phonetic. 

Reading Exercises are furnished in both forms, and a Theoretical 
Explanation of the Alphabet is appended. 

JUST PUBLISHED. 

XVI. 8vo, Paper Covers, Price 60 Cents. 

LECTURES ON PHONETICS. 

Delivered (1885) in Johns Hopkins University, U. S. A., and 
Oxford University, England. 



* ¥ * The above Works may be ordered through any bookseller, or they will be for- 
warded, post-free, on receipt of price, by the Publisher, or by the Author 



DELSARTE »«« EXPRESSION 

By GENEVIEVE STEBBIKS. 

PRESENTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A WAY 

PLAIN, PRACTICAL, HELPFUL. 

* * 
* t * Designed Especially for a Text-Book and for Self-Instruction. * * 

A BOOK OF /ESTHETIC PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR ALL PER- 
SONS OF CULTURE. 

AND PARTICULARLY FOR THE 

Elocutionist, Orator, Actor, Public Reader, Law- 
yer, Preacher, Painter, Sculptor, and all 
Others who wish to give Expres- 
sion to their Bodies or to 
their Work. 

A uthor and Publisher have spared neither labor nor expense in their endeavor to produce 
a work that shall satisfy the widespread desire for something tangible and serviceable on 
the Delsarte System. Every exercise has been subjected to repeated personal lest, and great 
care given to the description of attitude and movement. 

The writings and teachings of Delaumosne, Arnaud and Mackaye (pupils of Delsarte) the 
author has supplemented with years of study under other masters — in different capitals, at the 
Paris Conservatoire, etc., — and has drawn from various additional sources, ancient and mod- 
ern. She has taken all they had to give, pruning, analyzing, comparing, adapting, formula- 
ting, constructing, and testing theories, principles, rules and methods by years of personal, 
practical experience as teacher, elocutionist, public reader, and actress. So far as the Delsarte 
System is known, so far as it can be reduced to definitions and exercises, both author and pub- 
lisher do now place this book before the public as the best that can be written ; trusting that, 
besides being a guide and help to the oratorical and dramatic student, it will contribute toward 
rescuing the life-work of Francois Delsarte from the threatening oblivion and from the misun- 
derstanding, mysticism and contempt into which it has fallen. 



Delsarte's gymnastics differ 
from others in that they are not 
mechanical. Each has a men- 
tal, emotional, aesthetic value 
and intent. No exercise is prac- 
ticed simply for the physical 
result, but for' the purpose of 
developing body, mind and 
soul, and harmonizing their re- 
ciprocal relations, influences 
and effects. 



By a happy, iudicious ming- 
ling of philosophy and drill ex- 
ercises, the author has avoided 
making the book either too 
metaphysical or too mechani- 
cal. Both the reasoning stu- 
dent and the practical student 
will be satisfied. Every gym- 
nastic has its philosophical ex- 
planation, every principle its 
physical application. 



The book is arranged in divi- 
sions and lessons ; with head- 
ings, sub-headings, numbered 
paragraphs, the gymnastics 
grouped and classified, type of 
varioussizesand differently dis- 
played, an order of exercises for 
systematic practice and blank 
pages for explanations and re- 
marks an exhaustive index ; it 
is well suited for class-work. 



SIXTEEN CHARTS (drawn expressly for this book from living models) ; NINE I EEN 
SETS OF /ESTHETIC GYMNASTICS, INCLUDING DECOMPOSING EX- 
ERCISES. RECOMPOSING EXERCISES, HARMONIC POISE OF 
BEARING, A GAMUT OF EXPRESSION IN PANTOMIME, 
SPIRAL MOVEMENT, FEATHER MOVEMENT, Etc. 

Extra thick paper and wide margins; printed and hound with especial care; 
Cloth, $3.00, postpaid.. 

Address the Publisher, EDGAR S. WERNER, 

48 University Place, New York. 



The DIAPHRAGM 

AND ITS FUNCTIONS, 

Considered Specially in its Relations to Respiration and the Production of Voice. 
By J. M. W. KITCHEN, M. D. 



The Voice" First Prize E ssay 
original illustrations. 

Dr. Kitchen's treatise was written in response to " The Voice " prize contest first announced 
September, 1883, and closed October 1, 1884. Competition was open to all writers — foreign as 
well as American. 

Cloth, Flexible Covers, ------ $1 NET, postpaid. 

Address the Publisher, EDGAR S. WERNER, 

48 University Place, New York 

THE THROAT AHD ITS FUNCTIONS 

In Swallowing, Breathing and the Production of the Voice. 

By LOUIS ELSBERG, A. M., M. D., of New York. 

Twenty-five illustrations, most of which were prepared expressly for this work 
at large expense. 

Price, 25 cents, postpaid. 
Address the Publisher, EDGAR S. WERNER, 

48 University Place, New York. 

H A B I T UA L 

MOUTH-BREATHING. 

]TS CAUSES, EFFECTS AND TREATMENT. 

By CLINTON WAGNER, M. D., 

Professor of Diseases of the TJiroat and JVose, New York Post 
Graduate Medical School. 

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Price, 25 cents, Postpaid. 
Address the Publisher, 

EDGAR S. WERNER, 
48 University Place, New York. 

Science and Singing. 

By LENNOX BROWNE, F. R. C. S. 

Price 40 cents, Postpaid. 

Address the Publisher, EDGAR S. WERNER, 

48 University Place, New York. 



%\t faitt 

An International Review of the SPEAK- 
ING and SINGING VOICE. 

The Only Journal in the World making the Cure of 
Vocal Defects a Specialty. 

It aims to give practical instruction in the USE, IMPROVEMENT and 
RESTORATION of the voice, in READING, SPEAKING and SINGING. 

Its value is testified to by scores of speech-sufferers and by leading MUSI- 
CIANS, EDUCATORS, CLERGYMEN and PHYSICIANS in different 
parts of the English-speaking world. 

Its contributors include LEADING SPECIALISTS of the VOICE, in 
America and in Europe. 



®b* Wilt 

IS 

Indispensable to every Singer and Elocutionist ; 

A means of communicating necessary professional knowledge to every 
Physician and School Teacher ; 

Of great value to every Public Speaker 5 

A guide to Parents in directing and improving the speech of their Chil- 
dren; 

The press exponent of the human voice in its manifold phases ; to treat 
of its uses and capabilities ; give direction to its cultivation and man- 
agement, whether in singing, preaching, lecturing, reading, or con- 
versing; point out the way to remedy its bad habits or defects and 
restore it to healthful action, organic and functional; 

A journal which discusses pulpit and secular oratory; the methods of 
teaching reading and declamation in schools; the various systems of 
cultivating the voice for singing ; elocution ; the art of conversation; 
and, in fact, everything pertaining to the speaking and singing voice. 



Published monthly at $1.50 a year in advance; single 
copy, 15 cents. 

Address, EDGAR S. WERNER, 

48 University Place, New York. 

fl^~ N. B. — Another periodical bearing the name of The 
Voice has been started, therefore address all communications 
and make all remittances to me personally. 



Second Edition — Revised and Enlarged. 



GYMNASTICS OF THE VOICE; 

A SYSTEM OF CORRECT BREATHING IN SINGING AND SPEAKING, BASED 
UPON PHYSIOLOGICAL LAWS. 

A Practical Guide in the Training and Use of the Speaking and Singing Voice, 

DESIGNED FOR SCHOOLS AND FOR SELF-INSTRUCTION, 

By OSKAR GUTTMANN, 

Professor of Aesthetic Physical Culture, Dramatic Reading and Acting ; Author of 
"■^Esthetic Physical Culture," 41 Talent and School," etc. 



PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT, 

Many persons begin their professional career by publishing 11 treatises," " methods," " sys- 
tems" — mere theories which the authors themselves have not tested, and which are either 
plagiarisms, or, if original, possess little or no merit ; sometimes these publications are even 
injurious because they are the result of ignorance and false principles. 

Oskar Guttmann, in contradistinction to the many writers who flood and afflict the public, did 
not take up the pen until he had something of value to communicate, — something which had 
been subjected to the crucial test of practical experience. But he had no prototype, no 
author from whom he could draw. He was alone. He was the discoverer, the inventor, the 
pioneer, the formulater. It is well that he was forced to go to nature, to drink at the fountain 
head, for in so doing he produced a work founded upon the natural, scientific principles 
governing vocal anatomy, physiology and hygiene ; the production, management and cultiva- 
tion of the singing and speaking voice. 

Twenty-five years ago was issued the first German edition of Gymnastics of the Voice, 
which at once became a standard authority, — a position it holds until this day, notwithstand- 
ing the many volumes that have appeared and which are — forgotten ! It has been the source 
from which many subsequent writers have taken ideas and exercises, generally without credit 
and also without properly and intelligently reproducing them. 

The repeated editions in Europe, and the necessity of another American edition so soon 
after the issue of the first, are proof positive of its merit and durability. It is a book that has 
co77ie to stay ! 

The text for the new edition has been thoroughly revised from beginning to end. Many 
pages of new matter have been added, including numerous exercises for practice which have 
never before been in print, and which are the results of the author's life-long study and 
experience ; and the whole work has been put into a form adapted to use as a text-book in 
colleges and schools, and as a self-instructor by any person. 



i. It is founded on natural, 2. 



POINTS OF SUPERIORITY. 



4. It has been thoroughly 
tested. 

7. ftTaTheen translated in- 
to a number of languages. 
10. It is original in design, 
convenient in arrange- 
mcmt^^^^Pu^ec^afi^Tj^ 



It is safe. 
. It has produced satisfac- 

tOTyresujj&j 
. It is used as a text-book 
in Harvard Univ ersity, in 
other schools, and by pri- 
vate teachers. 
. It is finely printed and 
bound and fully illustra- 
ted. 



It is plain and practical. 

, It is recognized as au- 
thority in Amencoan^n 
Europe. 

, It is complete and com- 
prehensive, yet concise. 

, 7t^s^a""sure guide in 



the 



voice. 

, It is sold at a low price. 



Price $1.25, postpaid. 

Address the Publisher, 



EDGAR S. WERNER, 
48 University Place, New York. 



1 



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